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Poultry 
Pension. 



xr^5JS^v8^^«^ 



$ 100 Hens 200 Hens 

$8.00 per Month. $16.00 per Month. 

i Poultry Pension, 

| For the Average Farmer 

I or 

'i Poultry Man. 






Exactly What to Feed. 

Exactly When to Feed. 

Exactly How Much to Feed. 



Price 40 Cents, Postage Prepaid. 
Poultry Pension, 

Sarcoxie, Missouri 



1900. 
The Sarcoxie Tribune Print. 
Sarcoxie, Missouri. 



3628 



tvvo r- 



otftta of tkA <; 

jhn 9 -1880 

rttjj-Uttr of CtpyffgHft ' 

SECOND COPY, 
COPYRIGHTED. 

BY W: R: GLASBY, 

SARCOXIE, MO. ' £Uj_ 

62940 



INTRODUCTION. 

This little book is devoted to poultry for 
fresh eggs for market, from a business point 
of view, not for fancy or pleasure. The greater 
the profit the more the pleasure shows up. 

A big majority of those who supply the mar- 
ket with esfofs, o-ood, bad and indifferent, do 
not know the magnitude of the business, noth- 
ing" the average farmer produces comes near it. 
It is not our intention to fig-ure out a great big 
thing for you — do your own figuring. We will 
put you in a position to figure correctly, when 
you do. You will find it a bigger thing than 
you are aware of, counting capital, labor, etc., 
invested, with little or no risk; no risk at all if 
you go at it as a business, in a business way. 
It is only risky when you undertake to overdo 
the thing, so go at it meaning business. 

After writing three times as much as was 
necessary, we carved it down to about one- 
third, as it was something- practical and to the 
point we were after, knowing from experience 
the average farmer or poultryman wanted it in 
short metre. 

We have tried to give it so you can almost 



6 POULTRY PENSION. 

learn it by heart, leaving- out a great amount 
of figures, cuts, etc. We hope it will find its 
mark, for of all the reckless handling, or not 
handling, of poultry, it is done on most farms, 
the very place where it shouldobtain its great- 
est success. 

At the present time poultry for fresh eggs is 
in its prime, there being- a greater demand for 
fresh eggs than ever. Why? Simply because 
thev are, most generally, scarce. There are 
plenty of other kinds, stale, icehouse, etc.. but 
these will never supply the demand for fresh. 
Of course, if you can't get fresh, you take the 
next best, so with the market. Of late years 
the best of everything goes. Strawberries are 
graded right here (we are in a strawberry 
country) before being- put in the car, and at 
what kicking. It is the same in almost every 
line of produce, and why should it not be with 
eggs. You are in better shape to control that 
part of the market than most any other pro- 
ducer, let the produce be what it may. 

Cold storage cuts a big figure with almost 
all other perishable produce, not so with the 
fresh Qgg, they had just as well brand it "-not 
fresh", after storage, for it is known the min- 
ute it gets into market; so with your fresh egg\ 
it is known also. The same egg does not bob 
up in the market long as a fresh egg; you can't 
store it in an ice box and freshen it up every 



POULTRY PENSION. / 

morning". The average farmer and poultry man's 
fresh egg's bob up pretty reg-ularevery day. 

As tor the meat side of the poultry business. 
the big - packing- and cold storage corporations 
handle a larg-e quantity of dressed poultry. 

The big - corporation is all right in its 
proper place, but where is its place? They 
seem to have an awful appetite for 
all they g*o after. The big- cattle ranches are 
being - , or trying- to be, corraled by them. We 
have heard a great many say they would fin- 
ally corral the farmer. All they lack now is 
to shut the gate. What could the farmer do if 
he would? What sort of a job do you think 
they would do towards corraling- the poultry 
business? They can never corral theold hen, 
unless by buying- up poultry in larg"e quanti- 
ties, storing - it and then dish it out in differ- 
ent localities. 

The fresh eg-g - has g-ot the grip and you have 
only the hen that lays the egg to deal with, 
treat her rig-ht and you are perfectly safe, you 
are beneath the notice of these big - concerns, 
simply because they cannot handle you, nor 
can they crush you. 

In attempting- to tell exactly how to feed 
and manag-e poultry to make them pay we 
have taken the "Averag-e Farmer" for a tar- 
get, althoug-h any one w T ho may read this will 
see instantly that it is suitable to all who wish 



8 POULTRY PENSION. 

to try it, and especially those of small means, 
also those in cities who are bound down to call 
of bell or whistle, with no certainty of 
their jobs lasting a month or maybe not a 
week. In a great many cases they may be do- 
ing" very well, if so, "let well enoug-h alone." 

Who ever may take up this calling- he also 
becomes an average farmer, as he will raise a 
great deal besides poultry, in fact the greater 
part of his living - , fruit, vegetables, milk, but- 
ter, etc., maybe some for market, as poultry 
alone, in accordance with this plan, will not 
keep him employed as we do not advocate very 
big- flocks. We call one hundred laying* hens 
an average flock. We do not for one minute 
advise any one to g-o into it by the thousand, 
as is the first thoug-ht by a great many, es- 
pecially the amateurs; they are the last ones 
who, at first venture, should attempt it on a 
iarg-e scale. 

Probably after trying- the plan on a small 
scale you mig-ht enlarge. If you are posted, 
just think a moment, how many of these one 
thousand hen poultry farms (for eg-g-s for mar- 
ket) you know of, not that you hear of, but 
actually know of. 

Some years ag-o poultry and other papers 
were full of accounts of big - farms, some of big 
extent, others contracted to town lots, but do- 
ing- big business, using- various incubators, 



POULTRY PENSION. 9 

brooders, heaters, etc., turning-out broilers by 
the wholesale. What has become of them, and 
they were expert poultrymen (or writers, one 
or the other) . No, the fresh eggs are not sup- 
plied from the mammoth poultry iarms. There 
are special fruit farms, dairy farms, stock, 
etc., where would the market be if it were not 
for the average farmer and poultryman who 
steps up with his little package of fruit, but- 
ter, eggs, etc., drops it on the pile and moves 
on. The large farm egg is not in it at all, nor 
ever w T ill be, that is for fresh eggs for market. 

You read of so and so having; an eighty acre 
poultry farm, another, forty acres devoted 
to poultry, most generally they do not try to 
furnish eggs for the general market. They 
are fanciers or breeders and they are very es- 
sential to the average farmer, as you will rely 
on such to improve and keep your stock fresh 
by buying eggs or roosters from them for that 
purpose. On most farms they swap eggs or 
roosters amongst their neighbors; that may do 
in a few cases, but if you are up to date that 
won't suit. For the average farmer, on a 
reasonable scale, the fresh egg business for 
market, is a permanent thing. 

The meat side is furnished just as the egg 
side; every farmer having a few 7 extra chickens 
to sell keeps the market well supplied. The 
surplus helps pay the feed bill. 



10 POULTRY PENSION. 

Some say the poultry business is overdone, 
or will be, if everybody goes into it. That is 
the beauty of the business, there is no prob- 
ability of it ever being - overdone. Where one 
goes into the business, two go out, not because 
it was overdone, for the simple reason it was 
not half done, so let us give you a pointer, the 
the greatest trouble will not be over doing", let 
you try ever so hard, so don't be backward. 

There are patents for fixtures for running 
the business on a large scale. Their advocates 
claim that the expense for labor eats up the 
profit. For about one or two thousand fowls, 

labor, lice, etc., are heavy pull on them. Take 
one hundred hens managed as w T e describe, 
or any good way, soyougetfull returns (that's 
the rub), let the average farmers's wife at- 
tend to the light work connected with it, the 
farmer himself, or boy, or hand, doing the 
heavy work. After deducting the feed bill, 
the wife will have at least $8.00 per month for 
her labor and she can tell anyone she never 
had to labor hard or long at a time. 

Children can also attend to a flock; when 
they are old enough let them become interest- 
ed in keeping account of everything. It is a 
good thing for them, they can pay you for feed, 
etc., but give them the proceeds after paying 
necessary expenses, and probably you might 
have to borrow money from them, but treat 



J 



POULTRY PENSION. 11 

them fair and they will stay with you a long- 
time; boy or gfirl, it makes no difference. Only 
it is better for the g-irl than for the boy as she 
may not have to g-o out from home to work, as 
is the case on too many farms. How many 
g-irls now are, well no telling-- where, away 
from home, who could have been kept at home 
by this plan. They may earn $2.50 per week 
(not often) or $10.00 per month, when she could 
have stayed at home and earned, with one 
hundred hens, $8.00 per month, or with two 
hundred hens, $16.00 per month. Look at the 
satisfaction and pleasure to herself and her 
parents. As for the labor, you know the value 
of a hired hand in your locality. How many 
such flocks could he attend to and do a fair 
day's work besides? 

The labor is a stumbling- block for the big- 
concerns. You can very seldom g-et help to at- 
tend to hens as they should be. for that reas- 
on the averag-e farmer has the advan- 
tag-e — he is personally interested. .Instead 
ot following- after hired help to see if the 
work is properly done, he does it himself, only 
undertaking- what can be properly handled, in 
most cases where he undertakes it on a big- 
scale, he too g"oes to the wall. 

Labor saving - machinery may be all rig"ht, 
but it is hard on the laborer. Some condemn 
it, but in every vocation it is eag-erly soug-ht 



12 POULTRY PENSION. 

after. The farmer himself bites at it as soon, 
or sooner, than any one, even though he may go 
in debt for it. 

As for labor saving- machinery for the poul- 
try business, we don't see where it can come 
in to any great extent. That also protects the 
business for the average farmer and poultryman 

It has been tried, is being tried now, to see 
if there is not an opening for capital to take 
hold of it, as in various other products. Capi- 
tal is all right and of course there is room for 
some of it in the business, but not in quanti- 
ties to suit the capitalists, it also being very 
risky. A limited amount of capital is neces- 
sary, so it naturally falls to the man with lim- 
ited means to furnish the egg market, and that 
is the man we are after — the average farmer 
and his family — and there are others who can 
also do well, man or woman, with or without 
families. Say three or four women club to- 
gether, live together on a few acres of land, 
handling what suit each. You say again, too 
many going into the business. In the first 
place, some never will make a success of it, 
even under a plain plan like we suggest. To 
be sure if all who are in it now and who have 
been in, and out, for years, the average farm- 
er, those that may. yet go into it, and all 
succeed, there would be plenty of eggs. At 
present we are short on fresh eggs. The case 



POULTRY PENSION. 13 

is the same the world over. Takeour averagfe 
farmer, for instance, in other lines of produce: 
some do well, others fail almost entirely. So 
with poultry, some come across one of those 
pieces telling" what can be done with a thou- 
sand hens. In they go and out they come. 

Some can take our plan, attend strictly to 
details, enlarge by degrees, stop short at their 
limit, and do well. The little one or two hun- 
dred hen man is generally on deck. Others 
can not take fifty hens and get full returns. 

Is that any reason why you should fail ? We 
say you will suceeed if you mean business. 
We know of a cripple who is not able to do 
hard labor, that is constantly, but with the 
help of his g-ood wife, makes a gxxxl living 
easily with two one hundred hen flocks, g-etting 
his $16.00 per month pension from his two 
hundred hens, for fresh eg"g"s. Raising- most 
of his own food, vegetables, fruit, milk, butter, 
etc., on forty acres of land. 

His neighbor has one hundred and twenty 
acres of land with a mortg-ag^e hale and hearty, 
borrows money, in small amounts, occasionally 
from his crippled neighbor. He is a hard 
worker, is shiftless, but he says there is no 
money in chickens. There probably ain't for 
him. Just such cases level the supply on the 
market. 

Time and again we have been asked, "What 



14 POULTRY PENSION. 

do vou do to <>"et so raanv esrsfs in winter, what 

kind of chickens have you. what d 

you feed, what isthe secret? Asfaras we are 

concerned, there isnosecret. and we willingly 

tell any one what we do, only hoping' they may 

profit by it. We have asked different ones the 

following questions in return : 

Have you a hen house? 

The greater number say no. 

Where do your hens roost? 

Some in the trees, some at the barn, on the 

fence and wood pile. 

Do you feed them regularly ? 

No, they get all the feed they want them- 
selves. 

Where do they get it? 

Around the barns, pig- pens, oh, all around 
the place. 

Did they g~et all they could eat yesterday 
and the day before? (Feb. 27 and 28, 1898). 

Well, no, lots of them never got off their 
roosts, some of them even froze to death on the 
fence. 

How many eggs did you say you are getting 
a day ? 

Eggs a day? Why, we don't g'et "no egg's" 

at all. 

How many hens did you set last spring? 
Seventy or eighty, in spring and summer. 
How many eg*g\s do you put under a hen ? 
When the old woman sets them she puts fif- 



POULTRY PENSION. 



15 



teen to twenty eggs to a hen. 
Who else set any ? 
A good many set out in the weeds and all 

around. 

How many young chickens did you take off? 

Don't know; 'bout two or three hundred. 
The f-ats and pole cats bothered the old hens a 

heap. 

Where did you say the hens were set? 
Most of them set at the barn,' some in a big 
brush pile. 

Who attended to them ? 

Tended to them how? The old woman and 
the children done all the tending to them, I 
guess. 

' You say you took off two or three hundred 
chickens in all, where did you put them ? 

Some were in old barrels and boxes, some 
used under the brush piles. 'The boxes and 
barrels were open so they could go in and out 
as they pleased. 
I suppose you raised them all didn't you ? 
Hush, I don't guess there is seventy-five. 
What do you suppose became of them ? 
I told you the rats and pole cats were awful 
bad and a good many got drowned. 

Your coops were open so the chicks could go 
in and out as they pleased; do you think those 
pole cats and rats would go in and out as they 
pleased, too ? 



16 POULTRY PENSION. 

They surely must, we are mightily put out 
with the chicken business. I guess next year 
we will just let them go on their own hook and 
not try to raise any; if they raise any them- 
selves all right, if they don't we won't be out 
anything". 

The above is literally true; at one time this 
very family had the "hen fever" terribly bad, 
and were going at it wholesale. Now they are 
just letting them go on their "own hook", and 
it would be hard to convince them that there is 
any money in the chicken business. 

Now just look around you and see if you can 
find any who are managing as they did (be- 
fore thev "just let them go on their own hook") 
and are getting "no eggs." 

As strange as it may seem there are a vast 
number who are in the same boat, maybe lack- 
ing the brush piles and other fixtures that 
these people had at hand. 

Will very much of such management ever 
overdo the business? 

Now we want to try and tell you how it is 
done, that is for the average farmer and poul- 
tryman. In fact tell you exactly how it is 
done. That is quite an assertion. Bear in 
mind we do not say it is the only way, but we 
believe as sure, as cheap and as reasonable 
as any plan that is successful, for those who 
are getting "no eggs", in particular. 



POULTRY PENSION. 17 

To the average farmer or poultry man, we 
wish to state emphatically, this is a business 
proposition, not very complicated, butif not run 
on business principles you cannot expect full 
returns. It would indeed be strange if this 
plan as we describe, escaped criticism, as 
opinions differ widely in regard to poultry; 
more so in regard to feed, quantity, quality, 
etc. 

Should you be interested try the plan in full 
and you will succeed. "as sure as a gun is iron"; 
as before stated, some never will succeed, 
neither are all guns iron. This is from actual 
experience, as yet, has never failed. 

Twenty years ago we wondered why some 
one did not tell more particularly what to feed, 
how much. 

We have found out and propose telling it, so 
it can be profitably used by others whom we 
know are lost when it comes to the feeding for 
eggs for market. 

The average farmer, whenever attempting 
to feed regularly, generally feeds too much. 
On the other hand, when he becomes an old 
hand, he tries to feed them race horse or road- 
ster fashion. We hold to the opinion that the 
hen wants to be well fed to lay many eggs, 
more particularly in winter. On some farms 
they get "no eggs" — their hens are too fat. 
They are very seldom too fat, with plenty of 



18 POULTRY PENSION. 

range, unless they are deprived of egg produ- 
cing" material, ground bone, animal food, etc. 
If not laying at all they may become too fat. 
At no time, by our plan, have we ever had any 
complaint to make, although when killing - one 
to eat, they are sometimes pretty fat. the re- 
turns from the flock always holding- its own, 
but they are surely well fed. Some say differ- 
ent breeds require different treatment, try 
this treatment on any of them, for eggs, with | 
range and scratching" pen. Compare it with 
the feed and care you read of in some places 
and see what is lacking". The "mush and 
milk" is lacking - . We have no fault to find 
with milk, as it is fine most any time, but soft 
teed is not in this to any very great extent, 

We are not responsible for failure if you do 
not follow directions, but will gaiarant.ee suc- 
cess if you attend to the details, which may 
appear of little importance. That is the key 
note, or secret, as some call it. 

LOCATION. 

Various sections are often mentioned as «-ood 
locations for poultry and fruit farms. Some 
localities are more favorable than others, the 
climate being- more suitable in the south and 
southwest, say for poultry, small fruits and 
vegetables in connection. 

Don't you think you can take this plan and 
make it pay where you are, with your poultry 



POULTRY PENSION. 19 

house built warm enough to suit your locality, 
the scratching- pen being essential everywhere, 
it being a good regulator towards keeping 
your hens warm as well as busy. Probably 
in the extreme south the scratching pen would 
not appear so needful, where your fowls have 
range in both winter and summer. In some 
cases it may do to go to new locations to con- 
duct the business, but you must have the cap- 
ital, no big amount, to buy, improve stock and 
live for at least a year, or until you get your flock 
of laying hens to help you along. In this case 
be sure before venturing - too far. The man with 
"money to burn," needs no such caution. The 
man with small means can read what "the 
man from the east" has done, but he is an ex- 
ception. 

To the man with practically no means but 
big ideas try and see if you can not get a foot- 
hold where you are. We have heard some, 
yes, a great many, say a man in this day and 

age who has not accumulated something is not 
much account. Be careful — that is the very 
one" we are trying to reach. 

And great is the man with sword undrawn, 
And good is the man who refrains from wine, 
But the man who fails and yet still fight on, 
Lo ! he is the twin-born brother of mine. 

— Joaquin Miller. 



20 



POULTRY PENSION. 



Like kk the man from the east", we believe 
South and Southwest Missouri, Arkansas, 
Texas, etc., will some day be a great poultry 
producing 1 section, especially for winter egg 
production, the same being" produced there 
cheaper than in the colder climate of the north. 

We do not say the north will be depopulated, 
to the contrary the business will pay there as 
well as it ever did, or anywhere, north, south, 
east or west, according - to the management — 
that tells the tale in any locality. 

So go slow, make no rash moves to new lo- 
calities, unless you can go prepared, and it 
might be a good idea to go prepared to come 
back. 

HEN' HOUSE. 

We will take it for granted you have some 
fowls, if not you will have some, but don't 
overdo the thing-, only keep what you can take 
proper care of. If you already have a hen 
house add to it in any shape or style until you 
get the required ground space mentioned be- 
low, for if you expect to take the treatment, 
take it according to directions; but we don't 
expect you to give up what you already have, 
but you will see where you are lacking- and 
can act accordingly. 

The ground room in the house is what we 
want to commence on, and we must have it, as 
there are times when all the outside range in 



i 



POULTRY PENSION. 21 

your state is of no avail, especially when cov- 
ered with snow, or very cold days, 

We will give you our plan for building - and 
assure you anv new building* you may wish to 
put up can not be put up much cheaper to an- 
swer the purpose. For one hundred hens we 
build 24 x 24 feet square, 4 feet high on each 
side and 10 feet in the center, with a roof slop- 
ing- both ways. Some may say, in fact often do. 
that four feet is not hig-h enough. We are 
building- for chickens, you spend butlittle time 
in the house under the 4 feet, and it rises very 
quickly to 10 feet. Be your own judg-e and ar- 
chitect, but save the ground room. 

One end of house should face the south, with 
doors in end to suit yourself. You may think 
that considerable ground room for 100 hens; 
my friend, we are coming- rig-ht close to the 
"secret" of winter laying - . If you expect eg-g-s 
in cold freezing- weather, you are bound to have 
it, you want some windows in the south end; 
say you have your door in center of south end, 
put window sash on each side of door, not over 
two feet irom the ground. It is hardly safe for 
us to tell you how much glass to put in as you 
might think we had glass to sell, but put in 
two sash side by side on each side of door, at 
the corners of the house. You want more glass 
on east side of the house. It would be "mighty 
nice" to commence at the southeast corner of 



22 POULTRY PENSION. 

the house and go north half way. Now don't 
get excited, your hens will more than pay for 
it many times, if you follow directions. As for 
the material for the house, we see no use for 
very expensive houses. 

We do not propose to go into figures, esti- 
mating- cost of houses, cost of feed, labor, etc., 
nor do we intend trying- to fig-ure what a big 
thing you have in this plan of management, it 
is of no use whatever, to any one interested, 
as they are certain to figure the cost before 
ever making a move, besides one set of figures 
cannot suit all localities, so you must do your 
own figuring in every case, then you will know 
more about it than it we undertake it for you. 
You want your house close, no draft, warm in 
winter and cool in summer. We use common 
boxing, or barn siding, painted, with the crack 
well battened. For the roof you can use the 
same, shingles, felt or whatever you choose. 
Your locality will have something to do with 
it. 

How many in your«neighborhood have as good 
hen house? 

For inside arrangements we will only state 
the more particular parts. For the roosts, 
commence in the center of the north end and 
go six feet each way, put up ten roosting poles, 
each being twelve feet long, have them up five 
feet from the ground and fifteen inches apart. 



POULTRY PENSION. 23 

We make the frames for roosts solid, not swing- 
ing - , all on a level, the five feet being- plenty 
high and handy should you wish to take chick- 
ens from the roosts. You now have north end 
of house, twelve by twelve feet square, for a 
roosting place We enclose this room up to the 
roof, in fact make a house within a house, the 
idea being- to keep your laying stock, all others 
of course, warm in winter. The room has no 
direct contact with the outside, only on north 
end, which must be close, and the roof also. 

This room in its present shape, becomes 
very warm in summer, we put two shutters, 
six feet long and one foot wide, even with the 
bottom of the roosts, in each, side of roosting 
room, north and south, the north doors or 
shutters opening on outside of main house. «SBy 
opening these doors and the corresponding- 
door in south end of main house, you obtain 
ventilation in the warmest weather. On each 
side of the roosting room you have a space six 
feet by twelve feet. One side is for the laying 
department; make and place the nests to suit 
yourself, but make them all movable. We use 
boxes when we can get them of proper size 
and shape; one foot square is about right. 
This room is ample for a flock at this house. 

In the southeast corner of main house put a 
dusting' bin, or box, rigmt in the corner in the 
sun. Do not make it too small, say eight by 



24 POULTRY PENSION. 

eight feet; have it even with bottom of sash so 
the sun can get a good sweep at it; have a 
tight bottom and keep it supplied with dirt, 
say road dust, fill it in the fall; also have a 
few barels or boxes full for renewing. Step in 
some cold day and watch the hens in it, al- 
though they will use it the year through. 
For the floor of your house, take your choice, 
some prefer one and some another. We have 
always had a dirt floor; if too low, fill up and 
occasionally take out from eight to twelve 
inches, put it on your onion bed and put in 
fresh dirt well tamped down, sprinkling with 
water as you tamp, to make it solid. 

There is no fancy work attached to this plan, 
but if you attend to business you will soon be 
able to put on a few extra touches; but go 
slow. You are aware by this time that this 
book is intended for those at the bottom, that's 
the place to begin. We are now coming pret- 
ty close to the "secret" of healthy fowls. 

In first writing this book for the average 
farmer, we had fourteen pages devoted to lice, 
telling a lot nonsense about their habits, loca- 
tion, etc., having also anumberof cuts of same. 
After re-reading it, we politely threw the 
whole amount out! After getting started we 
carved right and left, but we want to assure 
you you have not missed a single thing by it; 
to the contrary, you are the gainer, as you 



POULTRY PENSION. 25 

will make time by its omission. You will be 
just as able to deal with the lice without it- 

If vou neglect this part of the plan you had 
better build no house at all, we honestly mean 
it. "Just let them go on their own hook", 
roosting- where they please, for with a lousy 
hen house you have various diseases, so called, 
when in reality, the lice are the cause of the 
whole thing, in order to beat them you have 
got to be vigilant. Clean out from under your 
roosts, the year round once a week, going- into 
roosting room from a door in north end of 
same; with a wheel barrow, it is a short job, 
wheeling the manure right on to your g-arden, 
there is money in it. Sprinkle a little dirt 
under roosts occasionally. At anv time, should 
roosting pen smell bad, more particularly in 
damp weather, dissolve a small amount of 
copperas in the water and sprinkle, air slacked 
lime is g-ood. Whitewash, you know, won't 
hurt your house, but by cleaning out the ma- 
nure once a week you do not give the lice much 
show in that direction, which is a great source 
for them. 

There is another verse belonging - to this se- 
cret — the roosts. Some say sassafras poles, 
cedar, two by four scantling, with the corners 
rounded off, etc., etc. Take your choice. We 
have never found one any better than the 
other as far as lice are concerned. They do 



26 POULTRY PENSION. 

just as well on one as the other, as they do not 
seem to be very particular. We get nice, 
straight poles from the woods, all knots cut 
off smooth. 

What ever your choice, oil them once a week 
with coal oil; we use a quart bottle, with a 
quill, or small pipe stem, put through the 
cork. The first time you oil them it will take 
some oil, but when you get them saturated and 
oil them regularly once a week, it won't take 
much at a time. The quantity does not cut 
much of a figure as the hens will foot the bill, 
provided you do your part. 

Build as fine a hen house as you wish, feed 
and care for them otherwise, but if you do not 
keep them clean and oil your roosts, your suc- 
cess, if any at all, will be very moderate. We 
have heard some say, all that is a heap of 
trouble. Right there the curtain falls. When 
we tell you how easy it is to obtain a pension 
of from $8.00 to $16.00 per month (more accord- 
ing to your ability, less according to your dis- 
ability) from your poultry, you will plainly 
see it is sure necessary to pay attention to 
these little details. 

Figure the cost; if you can beat it at any- 
thing else w r ith as little labor, don't be hoggish, 
let us hear from you. We mean on an average 
farm. 

Say, brother, right here we put up the bars. 



POULTRY PENSION. 1 1 

We came very near asking you a question 
which it would take a good one to answer. 
Should we have asked it, we might have at- 
tempted to answer it, in that case we know 
some of you might have been offended, so we 
will just let it go until another time. 

If you will figure a little, you see you have 
three hundred and sixty feet of the ground space 
of your house left after cutting off your roost- 
ing and laying room. 

Here comes another "secret"; it ought not 
to be such a great secret as it has been pub- 
lished time and again, but there is no doubt of 
it beinjr a secret to some. You who have read 
of it often, don't see why it should be a secret, 
almost too true to mention, some take no pa- 
pers at all that ever mention anything relative 
to their especial calling. Instead of taking 
one or more good agricultural journals, and 
also poultry papers, they barely take their 
county paper, in lots of cases not even that. 
Say, for land sake don't say a word about it, 
but we have been in lots of houses where the 
only paper they get is one wrapped around 
some purchase made in the country town, and 
is not always on account of poverty that they 
take none. We wish to tell our average farm- 
er that we havcno ax to grind at all, but if 
you want to keep posted after starting in on 
this plan of managing poultry for fresh eggs, 



28 POULTRY PENSION. 

take some good papers; they are almost giving 
some of them away. Keep posted and you will 
find many suggestions; you can't near try al] 
of them, but sift them and you will find many 
that are usetul. 

Some years ago we first read of the scratch- 
ing pen, had we tried it at that time we would 
have done a great deal better than we have 
After waiting eight or ten years we adopted 
it. With us it was the missing link; as it is in 
any other calling, so it is with the poultry 
business, to slight the undertaking in what 
may appear of little consequence, sometimes 
wrecks the whole thing. 

We aim to tell you just what is needful, no 
more, no less. Of course you may improve on 
it, but don't cut down. On some farms the 
only eggs they g'et in winter come from the 
barn; what few hens that get therethrough the 
snow, with those that roost there, on the farm- 
ing implements, etc., find a place to scratch, 
but even those do not lay as they should, lack- 
ing a full ration of egg* producing food, bone, 
meat, etc. Water also is scarce at barn and 
everywhere else in cold, freezing weather, if 
not provided. Yes, but they eat snow. So 
would you if you had to, but you know it 
won't satisfy. 

In the foregoing, we have merely given you a 
fair start at what is needed in the way of a 



POULTRY PENvSlON. 29 

house. There may be other things needed 
which you will soon see. Say you want an ex- 
tra sash in north end of roosting pen, forlight, 
poultry do not like to go in a dark place to 

\ roost; or it may be more light in the laying 

j room, hens would rather lay in the dark, and 
rarely go in there only to lay, thus 

j keeping - out of mischief in a room intended only 

■ for business. 

In the northeast corner of house, adjoining 
the roosting - room, we have a small grainery 
(a large dry goods box) with a partition in it. 
holding from twenty to twenty-five bushels, say 
ten bushels of oats and ten bushels of wheat, 
for scattering in the straw in the scratching 
pen. It is raised two and one-half feet from 
the ground, or floor, giving plenty of room for 
hens to g*o under to scratch. To look at it, 
under there would look like a good place for 
nests, don't put any there nor anywhere else, 
only in laying room. 

LAYING OR SITTING ROOM. 

In the division of house, we have left six by 
twelve feet for your laying and setting room. 
This room would also be better enclosed. You 
see there is only one side of it open, you might 
enclose it up solid the height of the low side, 
four feet, with lattice or wire, the balance of 
the way. By having the room tight you can 
just set an old setting hen on the outside or on 



30 POULTRY PENSION. 

the roost, close it up and she can't get back to 
the nest at least until morning-. Such treat- 
ment will most generally break up a great 
many hens, especially hens best suited for 
eggs for market. 

In regard to the nests, you can make good 
and cheap ones for layers, out of common four 
foot lath, making the bottom, front and back 
with the lath, with a solid partition between 
each nest, high enough so hens won't bother 
each other. Make four nests to each length 
of lath, that number being easy to take out of 
house at one time for cleaning, renewing, etc. 

This room, as stated before, will be some- 
what dark; all the better for your laying hens, 
but as you will have to be in there occasional- 
ly attending to your setting hens etc., you 
might make a door in the north side to enter, 
leaving it open for your setting hens to come 
out for exercise, water, etc. 

Don't let the nests get filthy, renew them oc- 
casionally, sprinkling- sulphur or some insect 
powder in them, also keep the whole room clean 
and in shape; it won't take long at a time nor 
will it have to be done often. None of your 
fowls should be allowed to roost in there. The 
house, as divided, has one apartment for each 
certain purpose. For one hundred hens we 
provide twenty-five or thirty nests. 

Now listen, more trouble: every morning, the 



POULTRY PENSION. 31 

whole year through, we put a nest egg in each 
nest, provided we do not have permanent nest 
esrirs. We have not missed doing so for five or 
six years, not even one morning. 

There are artificial nest eggs, but we have al- 
ways used the hens' eggs for the purpose, 
making a very small mark on one end w r ith a 
lead pencil, so there will be no possibility of us- 
ing the same egg twice for a nest egg, as they 
will soon spoil, especially in summer, and if 
taken to market will hurt your reputation as a 
fresh egg poultryman or farmer. The mark 
beinjr so small the merchant nor anvone else 
will notice them. It may look a little suspi- 
cious to some, as though the eggs might have 
been marked for setting purpose, or had been 
set, but we have never heard any complaint. 
On the contrary, it acted as our trade mark 
on one occasion. One afternoon my wife and 
self were away from home, and somebody came 
and cleaned up the hen house of eggs, amongst 
them being the nest eggs with the little pencil 
mark. We suspicioned certain parties, went 
direct to the store where they do their trading 
and asked the merchant il they had brought in 
any eggs lately. He said they had. We went 
direct to a tub of eggs and there found the 
eggs with the mark on them. The merchant 
had never noticed the mark; but am glad to 
say it is not necessary to mark them for that 



32 POULTRY PENSION. 

purpose. 

The egg gourd makes a very good nest egg, 
but when seasoned they become rather light 
weight, the hens raking them around with 
their bills out of nest on floor, etc. We believe 
if there were made a small hole in one end and 
shot put in to make them heavier they would 
answer for nest eggs, but you will probably 
not notice your nests so closely as you would 
were you putting nest eggs out every morning. 
A great many will say that it is too much trou- 
ble. How on earth do you expect to earn your 
$8.00 to $16.00 a month, are you doing as well 
at anything else, especially something for 
nothing ? Now you see it and now you don't. 

Poultry confined in small quarters do not 
need nest eggs nor much of anvthing else but 
more room. Where they have plenty of range, 
as by our plan, we have found the nest eg'gs of 
benefit. Very few hens will lay anywhere 
else but in the room intended for the purpose; 
there is one thing you will get very nearly 
every single egg laid on the place, with nest 
eggs, provided you keep up all along the line; 
it all goes together. The young pullets long 
before beginning to lay, find out where the 
nests are and go right to them when they are 
ready for business. 

We do not claim that the nest egg will make 
the hens lay any more eggs, they will lay just 



POULTRY PENSION. 35 

as many, but you may not find them all, and 
may have a great deal more trouble hunting- 
what you do find than the putting- out of nest 
eofg's would have been. Now can't you plainly 
see the shortest route of the two is the nest 
eg-g- ? You not only g-et all of the eg-g-s, but 
you g-et them regularly every day, while if the 
hens laid everywhere some eg-g-s are often from 
one to three weeks old when run across; then 
where would you be in the fresh eg-g- business? 
No, we are trying- conscientiously to save you 
trouble rather than otherwise. 

The eg-g-s are g-athered every evening- just 
before or after feeding-. It is better for one 
person to attend to the hens all throug-h, feed- 
ing-, etc.; hens are partial to a degree in that 
respect. There is no use of running- to the 
nest every time a hen cackles, as is the cus- 
tom on some farms, especially with the chil- 
dren, and somebodv else's come to stay all 
day, make a dive for the hen house, scaring- 
every hen off to see how many eg-g-s are under 
them. Children can be of great help in the 
business when old enoug-h, eventually tend to 
a flock of their own. Fowls are naturally shy 
but by kind and g-entle treatment they become 
quite familiar, but rush into their laying- room 
off and on all day and they are, from nature, 
inclined to move their place of laying- rather 
than be disturbed. It is not necessary, it is 



34 POULTRY PENSION. 

handier to gather the egg\s at a regular time, 
one person attending- to them; especially when 
laving-, they are not near so shy. Should you 
wish a chicken to eat, don't call everv one at 
hand, armed with clubs, rocks, etc., and two 
or three dogs, and then sail out after a chicken. 
Have a coop for the purpose, putting- in what 
chickens you wish to dispose of or eat; you 
then have them handy. If spring- chickens are 
ripe just pick them up out of feeding coops 
while feeding- them, pen them up, feeding- and 
watering- them g-ood, they soon become fine for 
the table or market. Have a small iron rod 
about the size of a lead pencil, bent at one end 
in such a shape that it will g-o around their 
leg-, but will not slip over the foot as you draw 
them to you. When your neighbor calls to see 
you bringing- a dog or two with him, gets seat- 
ed and his dogs begin taking in the bone meal 
boxes, hens' nests, etc., just say, I'll be back 
in a minute. Go for those dogs with anything 
you can get hold of, you will miss them nine 
times in ten. 

A CHEAP POULTRY HOUSE. 

When approximating the cost of housing 
fowls comfortably and well, one dollar per 
head is considered a proper estimate here in 
New England. 

Nearly every hen house on my farm, in fact 
every one that is arranged for laying stock, 



POULTRY PENSION. 35 

has its annexed stratching pen, tight roof, 
sides and back, with open front covered by 
wire netting- to admit the air. These fronts 
are provided with oiled muslin curtains which 
can be opened and closed at will during very 
cold, stormy weather, hinged at top or on the 
end, whichever may be most convenient for 
hooking- the frame up out of the way when not 
in use. 
In the fall ot '98 I had about 125 extra late 

hatched pullets that must need either be housed 
or sold then at a sacrifice. I bought some sec- 
ond grade spruce timber and hemlock boards 
for $14.00 per thousand feet. The sills 4x4 
inches were set on cedar posts with a stone 
underpinning" between posts. Balance of 
framing, 2x4 spruce. The lumber was all 
14 and 16 feet in length, which cui with very 
littje waste. The roof was covered with pack- 
ing paper and over this two-ply tarred felting- 
kept well washed with g-as tar. 

The interior is 14x28, with a partition from 
the front to rear, making two rooms 14x14. 
The platforms or floors or roosting- pens are 
raised two feet from the sills and are four feet 
wide. These extend the entire depth of each 
room, running- along the partition, which of 
c6urse, is in the hig-hest part of the house. 
This arrangement leaves the entire floor space 
to be used as a scratching room or pen. The 



36 POULTRY PENSION. 

inside doors, or those over the roosts, are ar- 
ranged so as to shut down flush with the edge 
ot dropping" boards. During cold weather 
these make a cupboard-like arrangement for 
the hens to roost in, while in summer the doors 
are left hooked up at all times, which leaves 
the roosting place practically as cool as would 
be an open shed. 

Small windows for ligmt and ventilation are 
put in front of each roosting room, and one 
each on side of the shed part. The laying- 
nests are arranged around these latter pens. 
In buildings of this kind we can scatter the 
birds about the farm on the colony plan with- 
out having any yards. Where it was neces- 
sary to confine the flock the house could set in 
an enclosure or have adjoining yards. 

The pullets that were housed in this build- 
ing in November were quite small and imma- 
tured Barred Plymouth Rocks, but with these 
lodgings they developed rapidly and com- 
menced laying early, keeping up a remarkable 
egg yield throughout the entire season. I have 
another lean-to shed fixed up after the same 
principles, with only one pen, the pullets in 
this shed were the best layers on thefarm last 
winter. 

I have spent over twenty years of my life in 
connection with practical poultry keeping and 
different methods and have yet to learn of a 



POULTRY PENSION. 37 

better plan to keep hens in a laying- condition 

during- the winter months. 

Apponaug-, R. I. D. J. Lambert. 

The above was taken from the "Farm Jour- 
nal" published at Philadelphia, Pa., by the 
Wilmer Atkinson Company, and written by a 
poultryman who has been in the poultry busi- 
ness for over twenty years and he finds the 
poultry house, as described to you by us, as 
just the thing - . We may differ a little, but in 
no case does it change the jreneral structure. 
You may also think a little different, but as a 
whole you can't beat it. It gives us pleasure 
to have the endorsement of such a man as D. 
J. Lambert, Apponaug-, R. I. Our plan is of 
our own selection, after trvin«- various other 
plans. 

SETTING THE HENS. 

In setting - the hens you have the same object 
in view as you do all throug-h, eg-g-s in winter. 
It is the early hatched pullet you have to rely 
on for eg-g-s in winter, consequently you must 
set your hens early 

Don't keep on setting- throug-h the whole 
year unless you have an object in it. If your 
object is to keep them throug-h the winter, you 
w r on't find much pension in a late hatched pul- 
let, as they won't lay until tow r ards spring-, 
but will eat just the same. Bear in mind we 
are fig-uring- on the one flock ol one hundred 



38 POULTRY PENSION. 

hens. If you should only have fifty and do not 
wish to enlarg-e, take it at one half; if you have 
two hundred, double it and so on. The above 
may sound strang-e to some, but try it on ten 
by taking- it at one-tenth, and you are all 
rig-ht. For the averag-e farmer and poultry- 
man it is what we call a soft snap, written for 
your especial benefit. It is only necessary for 
you to raise fifty pullets every year to keep 
your one hundred winter layers in shape. 
Each fall fifty of your hens will two years old 
next spring- and fifty one year old next spring-. 
The fifty you raise each spring- takesthe place 
of your coming- two year olds; each fall you 
sell off your two year olds. There may be 
some exceptions, say in extra layers or early 
moulting - . 

Before describing- the manag-ement of the 
setting- hens, we will say it does not make so 
very much difference about what kind of stock 
you have, that is to beg-in on; you can improve 
them every year by g-etting- new blood, in eg-g-s 
or males. You can soon have a g*ood flock 
of any breed that may suit your fancy, but treat 
them well and any of them will respond to 
g-ood treatment. Sometimes you may thinkone 
certain hen an extra g-ood layer; set all her 
eg-g-s you can g-et. 

We have one hen, "Blackleg's," which isnine 
years old, "Old Blue" is eig-ht years old; they 



POULTRY PENSION. 39 

were the best hens with young - chickens we 
ever saw. They are very uncertain now as to 
setting - , they do not commence laying- until near 
spring - ; they are privileg-ed characters, never 
having- had any disease, and I g-uess the lice 
have not hurt them. In the spring- when they 
commence laying- they make as much noise as 
any of them. We never fail to set all their 
eg-g-s that are on time. "Blacklegs" is an in- 
cubator chicken; as for their breed, they are 
more Leghorn than anything- else. In their 
early days we had all colors and kinds, but 
by keeping the best we now have a pretty gxx>d 
stock of Leg-horns of our own build. You can 
do the same with any breed you prefer. We 
have often heard a great many lay the blame 
altog-ether on their chickens, because they 
g-ot "no eg-g-s". It is not their fault at all, al- 
though some are, we think, better eg-g- pro- 
ducers than others, any of them will bearg-ood 
treatment. 

To supply the fifty pullets it is only neces- 
sarv to set ten hens. This will seem strang-e 
to a great many, but let me tell you, it is the 
number of chickens you raise out of a g-iven 
number, not the number of hens you set. If 
any one person had the amount of eg-g-s wasted 
insetting-, they would have a pretty fair in- 
come. 

To some, the idea of only setting- ten hens in 



40 POUlTRY PENSION. 

one year we know appears strange, more so to 
those who are use to setting them the vear 
round, when and wherever they come across 
them. We never set a hen outside of the hen 
house, notwithstanding- the hen that steals her 
nest out gets great credit in some places, she 
has got to make a complete job of it before we 
come across her, if it were any trouble to get 
setting- hens in the henhouse, it would be dif- 
ferent. You know they are taught to lay in 
the house, and that's where they go to setting. 
They are taught, also, to lay in the winter, 
so by spring - there is no scarcity of setting 
hens, in fact a great many morethan are need- 
ed, by this plan, provided they are of the set- 
ting kind. 

We set our ten hens in each house from the 
fifteenth to the lasi of March, so as to have the 
chickens all off in April, which isearly enough, 
and the weather settled, the chicks all grow- 
ing off finely, will make good winter layers, if 
fed and cared for as directed. You know they 
will do better than those hatched in February 
or March and left to rustle for themselves, the 
old hen tied to a tree with a string to her leg; 
that is common. Of all the makeshifts that 
takes the cake, and some of these very people 
will tell you that they take good care of their 
chicks. They may think so, but w r hy they do 
it is hard to understand. If you have good 



POULTRY PENSION. 41 

warm coops with a run for each coop, you can 
do the fair thing- bv them, but as stated be- 
fore, you can do a better job by waiting- until 
the proper time. In the early spring- how often 
do you hear, Have you g-ot any young- chickens 
yet? No. Why we have g-ot one hen hatched 
and eig-ht more setting-. 

How many young- chickens has your hen 
g-ot? Generally they say five or six. Ask 
them two months later and you will find you 
are ahead of them. At the end of the season 
they may tell you they have set from fifty to 
eig-hty hens, but the pole cats, rats and etc., 
were awful bad; that they did not get througm 
with many. After trying- the ten hen plan, 
with five g-ood coops and runs you can tell 
them you only set ten hens, took off one hun- 
dred and ten chicks (a low estimate some 
years) and raised one hundred and five. 

Which one, or are you both overdoing- the 
chicken business, only taking- different routes? 
It is all rig-ht to be up to date provided you are 
fixed for it. 

Our plan is comparatively easy, 

much more pleasant and profitable. 
Your hens, after laying- in fall and win- 
ter, will be plenty early wanting- to set; some 
too early, but don't get excited and set some 
so you can blow around the neig-hborhood that 
you have hens setting-. The principal time is 



42 POULTRY PENSION. 

in the wind up, not what you set but what you 
raise. We have five double boxes to set the 
ten hens, a common cracker box does very 
well, with solid partition between each nest, 
always setting" two hens at the same time; 
don't fool away the time with setting- one hen 
at a time; shouldthere be only one hen wanting- 
to set, let her alone, not in your double box, 
as it is not in your hen house, they are only 
used for setting- hens in; when another hen is 
ready, fix up your double box, making- plenty 
of nest, sprinkling- some sulphur or insect 
powder on same, carefully select fifteen egg's 
for each hen, that is enoug-h. Some put twen- 
ty and even more, they think the more the bet- 
ter, everything- on a big- scale, only as to re- 
sults. 

This double box is perfectly tig-ht all over, 
having- a door, with leather hing-es, to close up 
so other hens cannot bother them, nor those 
pole cats, rats, weasles, etc., that your neigh- 
bor spoke of, but your hens must have air, so 
you will bore plenty of holes small enoug-h so 
a mouse cannot g-et in, all around, front, back 
and sides; it is also better to sprinkle the 
nests and hens occasionally with insect pow- 
der or sulphur up to the third week after set- 
ting-. 

When your hens have been setting- a day, 
take some corn in a shallow pan or box, open 



POULTRY PENSION. 43 

each double nest and feed them on their nests. 
It may be neither of them will eat the first time 
but they will soon come to it. Have a regular 
time to feed them every day. notice that none 
of the grain falls in their nests, as it will 
tempt other hens to scratch in their nests 
while they are off, it is not often they wish to 
leave their nests more than every other day. 
Leave the doors down so they can go out for 
water, exercise, etc., the water, of course, al- 
ways being- handy and in the same place at 
all seasons, they know just whereto go. Most 
generally some laying hen takes their nest the 
moment they go off. Notice when the setting 
hens begin going back; see that they g-et 
their own nest; they may gx> on another nest. 
Put the laying- hen out of her nest and lift her 
on gently. You may not have gotten hold of a 
jrood hen in the start and she may stay off too 
long. Walk around her and most generally 
she will go back. If she does not appear to 
mean business, bear w r ith her until you g-et 
another, there are plenty most generally want- 
ing to set; put the other one up, she will soon 

go to laying- again. 

One of the greatest sources for lice is the 

setting hen. By this plan you do not spend 

much time with the setting hen unless you 

manage as some do. Never break up a hen; 

that won't do, put them in a coop a few days. 



44 POULTRY PENSION. 

Don't let them hatch lice, there is no money in 
them. There being- one hundred hens in each 
tiock and you only set ten out of them, if of 
that nature or breed, all will want to set dur- 
ing- the season. We have a special double coop 
foT breaking- setting- hens, letting- out one side 
at a time, feeding- and watering- them well, 
after breaking- them up, or at the lime, is a 
a g-dod time to disposeof someof your two year 
old stock, as they will weig-h well. 

It is natural for some to say, too much trou- 
ble. Well, try the fifty or eig-hty hen plan, 
set here and yonder all through the season. 
Notice the ages of your pullets in the fall; see 
how many of them will lay that fall or winter. 
Have often read, not feed setting hens on the 
nest. In ten or twelve years' trial, have not 
found anv fault with it. After attending to 
your poultrv by this plan, in every detail, or 
any other good plan, if you do not make some 
headway in improvement in different lines you 
are not as deeply interested as you should be. 
You could, or may, have a different room for 
your setting hens; not a bad idea at all, pro- 
vided you also give them the proper attention. 
Our principal object is to start you, trying to 
get you to abandon some of the old time poul- 
try fixtures, brush piles, fence corners, etc. 

When your hens commence hatching, once a 
day notice and see that the egg shells do not 



POULTRY PENSION. 45 

cover another egg. Take then out of the nest. 
When nearly through hatching" take one hen 
off, the one you may select as liable to be the 
best mother, put he'* with what chickens are 
dry* in a roomv box, leaving- the other hen to 
finish the job. When finished put the hen and 
chickens out in the coops, put your other hen 
in the setting - coop. She is in good condition, 
being well fed will soon gx> to laying. Grease 
• her well under the wing's and body before put- 
ting her in coop. Also your hen with the 
chickens, not the chickens at this time, but at 
any time if you think they are not looking 
right, standing sleeping, wing's drooped, 
grease every one lightly on the top of thehead. 
taking them out of back door in coop; if you 
have kept your hen house clean, oiled your 
roosts, you will not have much trouble with 
lice. 

The best feed we have ever used is the com- 
mon corn or egg bread, just as you make it 
for yourself. Before g'oing" any farther in the 
feed line we will tell you of the coops. 

In all profitable manufacturing establish- 
ments they have their plant, so with you in the 
poultry business for manufacturing fresh eggs 
for market. The hen does a manufacturing 
business that is beyond comparison unless it 
be to that piece of machinery that turns out 
the same product. Other fowls may equal her 



46 POULTRY PENSION. 

but only to a limited extent, the reproduction, 
whether of animal or vegetable, is beyond 
comparison. Man has attempted and accom- 
plished wonders, but here he stops, and well 
he may. ' 

Your houses, coops, etc., are the permanent 
part of your plant, if properly constructed will 
last a long- time. We make our coops of the 
old style letter A, or roof fashion; make them 
two and one-half feet wide and two feet deep, 
two and one-half feet from eaves to comb. We 
make the frame or rafters out of 2x2 inch stuff 
covered with siding- overlapped so as to shed 
the rain. The bottom, to keep out those pole 
cats, rats, etc., is made of two 2x4 cross pieces, 
with most any kind of lumber for bottom, only 
letting- the lumber extend half way on the 2x4, 
leaving- room for the coop to set down in so the 
rain will run off clear of the bottom of coop. 
The above well painted will last a long- time. 
We make a sliding- (upanddown) door in each 
end of coop, the outside or back door being- 
handy to take your young- chickens out to 
grease, if necessary, also for inspection of 
coop. In making- the two ends of coop do not 
let your lumber g-o clear up, leave a hole you 
can put your fist in for ventilation, covering- it 
with wire cloth. In very warm weather bore 
small holes in front and back doors. In early 
spring- break the ends ot corn cobs in those 



POULTRY PENSION. 47 

holes, punching them open when needed. Put 
a small piece, 2x1 inch sloping-, in front of each 
door to keep the dirt in the coop. Put the dirt 
in the cooo and you are ready for your chick- 
ens, but don't forget to renew it occasionally. 
In connection with the above coop, we have 
two lath coops to feed in. We lake common 
lath, cut them half in two, nail them to a full 
length (four feet) lath, one-half inch apart 
— four of such panels make the coop — to set 
right in front of your roosting- coop. Make the 
top out of lath; for a few days feed the old hen 
and chickens in this coop, drive stakes in the 
ground and fasten the panels to them with 
wire Most old hens are soindustrious scratch- 
ing- that they keep the teed in such shape the 
little chicks fail to j»*et enough to eat, so we 
have another coop for them alone. We cut the 
lath into three pieces, making" and staking- it 
at the corners, the same way as the other: this 
one only takes three lengths, as one end of the 
other coop makes one side of it. This addi- 
tional coop more than pays for itself in a 
short time in the saving- of feed, as the old hen 
can not g-et in there to scratch and waste the 
feed. Of course you must feed the old hen. 
When putting- up this additional coop raise the 
partition between the two so they can run 
from one coop to the other, but never raise the 
the small coop on the. outside as outside hen* 



48 POULTRY PENSION. 

try to reach in under to get the feed. When 
your little chicKens get strong- and lively, 
raise the main coop up so they can run 
in and out and very shortly you will let the old 
hen out, but of a morning- when the dew is 
heavy the little ones can run out and in, also 
in wet weather. On such days and times a 
great many young- chickens are lost, 
the old hen dragging them through the dew 
and rain. Of course you know you have to 
shut them up in their house every night. 

We feed these little chickens in a trough two 
and one half feet long, six inches wide, with 
lath nailed around the edges, with a partition 
in one end four by six inches. As stated be- 
fore, feed the corn bread, don't feed soft feed 
at all. Some of you may go against us, but we 
are sure many young chicks are killed by 
feeding soft feed, especially corn meal made up 
a few minutes before feeding. There is old 
bread etc., on many farms, soak it, squeeze it 
as drv as you can, throw it to the main flock 
and give your chicks some small grain, millet 
seed, cane seed, cracked corn, wheat or some- 
thing similar, by putting a little in the coop 
they will soon get to eating it and you will 
need have no more bother with your corn bread. 
The partition in your trough is for bone 
meal. Keep it there constantly. You are 
aware this plan is for business as well as 



POULTRY PENSION. 49 

pleasure, so you want them laying- by fall. In 
order to do so you must feed them for this pur- 
pose. Some time when you are admiring - your 
chickens and the "soft snap" you have by this 
plan, drop a little charcoal in (fine gTained) 
the troug-h, or a little cracklins (also fine) and 
notice your chickens g-o for it; they are fond of 
it and it is g-ood for them. We have known 
people who would never rest until they had a 
box in the coop for that purpose, and in the 
fall chuckle to themselves because their pullets 
commenced laying- so early, not telling- a soul 
the cause of it. You mav pick up lots of little 
tricks, but don't be selfish, tell it, it will do no 
harm, besides there ain't one in ten that will 
try it, they are afraid they mig-ht overdo the 
chicken business. 

There are various ways for watering- the 
little chickens, but by all means use something- 
that thev cannot g-et into with their feet. A 
pie pan or saucer is most g-ener ally used — about 
as poor a vessel as you can use, We use a 
common half g-allon fruit can. Set it in a saucer 
open end down, take a case knife, lay it level 
on top of saucer, mark on the can by rubbing- 
the knife backward and forward, take a peg - - 
ging- awl or small nail and make a hole in the 
can just below, not too low, the mark, "fill the 
the can with water, lay the saucer on top, give 
it a quick flop, set it on an inch block in one 



50 POULTRY PENSIOX. 

corner of the coop. The water will, flow just 
as they drink it out, in a short time set it up 
two inches hig-her, a brick is good to set it on. 
The drinking - fountain is to remain in thema ; n 
feeding" coop all the time as the old hen will 
have to have water. Should she g"et restless 
at times, running - around in the coop trying" to 
g-et out and knock the can over, slip a piece of 
lath throug"h the cracks of your coop, in front 
of the can or put a loop of wire or string" around 
it. Keep plenty of water in the cans until 
your chicks are big- and bold enough to g-o to 
the larg-er vessels having" the water for the 
main flock. Recollect you want to raise every 
one of the whole five flocks, or say about one 
hundred and ten or twentv chicks, which is no 
trick, barring" unavoidable accidents. Prom 
now on pay a little attention to those who take 
off from two to three hundred chickens in a 
season and see what they have in the fall. 
Thev hate to tell. "Oh, I g-uess there is a 
hundred or hundred and fifty. " 

We don't say all are that way but we do say 
an overwhelming- majority are. 

You should keep feed in your little chickens' 
troug-h all the time until they are half grown, 
then feed them morning - , noon and nig-ht for a 
short time, then morning- and evening", event- 
uallv mersrinjjf them into your main flock. The 
old hen will quit her chickens sooner by this 



POULTRY PENSION. 51 

double coop plan than she would otherwise. 
Some of her chicks may follow her to the hen 
house to roost; let them gx>, but they will still 
visit the feeding- coop and run with the others 
during- the day. When all the chicks are 
weaned, put several of thesmallcoops tog-ether 
in front of the larg-e coop nearest the hen 
house and make that the g-eneral feeding- place, 
calling- all up tog-ether, old and young-, putting- 
the feed in the pens for the young, scattering- 
it to the old, by this means you will soon feed 
all tog-ether. Do not take the big- coops from 
any of the roosting - coops, only what small 
coops you need, as they may still go home to 
roost, or some of them, nor do not raise the 
small coops off the ground, but let them go in 
through the big coop as before. The older 
ones are not apt to bother the feed in the small 
coops as they do not know how T to get in. You 
will have to raise the big coop to suit the size 
of your young- ones, from time to time; the older 
ones will learn the trick and go in there. You 
will have to let them go as there is no use scar- 
ing them out, by so doing your younger ones 
will get wild. You ought to take off twenty- 
five chicks to each two hens, at the least cal- 
culation, making- one hundred and twenty-five 
chicks all told. There is a screw loose some- 
where if you do not raise from ninety to nine- 
ty-five per cent, as you are prepared to pro- 



52 POULTRY PENSION. 

tect them from all varmits. or conditions of the 
weather. The old hen and chicks are partial 
to their coops and will make for them when a 
rain comes up. We often round them up when 
it begins to look squally, by opening- the door 
and letting- the old hen in, all's well. Don't 
g-o in a whoop but be gentle, at the same time 
g-et a move on yourself. The chickensthat are 
lost by this route will compare favorably with 
the pole cat route. 

Some of us averag-e farmers take a notion to 
go to pa's and ma's Saturday evening- and stay 
until Sunday evening-, sometimes until Monday 
morning*. Every one the place go,' even to the 
do«\, more often dog's. Possiblv a near nei»-h- 
bor may milk the cow and teed the chickens. 
As for shutting- them up, it won't hurt this 
time; it sets into raining- some are drowned, 
the polecat, weasle, rats, etc., do love to ram- 
ble on a wet nig-ht, they take a turn at the 
chicks, which almost, if not completely ends 
the whole business, as they, or some of them, 
merely suck the blood and kill a great number 
in one nig-ht. When we return, what? The 
the chicken business don't near pay, so we 
"just let them g-o on their own hook." 

We don't say you do that but don't you 
you know some who do, or have done almost 
exactly that way? We told you in the start 
we were g"oing- to gfive it to you from actual ex- 



POULTRY PENSION. 53 

perience. The above is positively so, but not 
personal experience. ,k Once upon a time we 
ourself, had one hundred and ten as fine chicks 
as vou would want to see in a brooder of our 
own make, it had a lid to shut down like a box. 
near the top there was a small opening - ; we 
thought it was just the thing- for air. So it 
was. One night something" came and killed 
every one of them and as near as I recollect, 
did not eat the whole of any one. The sig-ht 
was awful; we thought awful. We soon knew 
what the air hole was for. We just closed 
down the lid and left everything - just as we 
found it. The next nig-ht we put a steel trap 
down in where what ever it was would g-et it. 
The next morning- there was the mother pole- 
cat in the trap, with nine little kittens dancing 
around in the brooder. They were sure cute 
little thing-s — not half as cute as my little 
chicks were. That was twelve years ag-o; when 
we want air holes we always put wire cloth 
over them. 

Out of the number of chickens you raise you 
will have no trouble g-etting- your fifty pullets 
to renew your flock, the balance being- roosters, 
disposing- of them as you please. But don't 
forg-et to g-ive proper credit for them, as you 
oug-ht to keep a strict account so you will know 
if you are making - your $8.00 per month pen- 
sion, clear of all expenses. You are expected 



54 POULTRY PENSION. 

to charg-e to your flock all thefeed fed to them; 
vou certainlv will jrive them credit for what 
you use or sell. Try it one season and see how 
interesting- it will become; but don't think be- 
cause you have done so well that you will in- 
crease your flock to two or five hundred and 
crow r d them into your one hundred hen house; 
it is often attempted. Then another one has 
overdone the chicken business and "-one out. 
leaving- another place to be filled. 

We will g-ive you a pointer here in reg-ard to 
proper credit for eg-g-s, Whenever eg-g"s are 
used in the family we drop a grain of corn in 
jar or bottle for every eg-g- used. At the end of 
each month the corn is counted and credited to 
the month in which thev were used. The ejrirs 
that are set should be credited in their proper 
month. It is not so particular what you use. 
you are the judg*e on that score, but if you are 
running- on business principle you have no 
rig-ht to use them and not g"ive credit for them. 
It is on that principle we are giving" this, on 
no other whatever, not for fun or pleasure, al- 
though you derive lots of pleasure if you are' 
interested. 

How do you expect to tell if your hens are 
laying- the amount of eg-g-s they oug-ht to if you 
do not keep close account of them ? You can 
also tell what comes in every month, otherwise 
you can not. You are expected to have dis- 



POULTRY PENSION. 55 

posed of your fifty coming - three year old hens 
by or before the pullets are-leaving" their coops 
going to the hen house to roost, which they 
will soon do, as the mother hen has often taken 
them into the scratching pen, consequently 
this is no new place to them, but should any of 
them take a notion to a tree or fence to roost 
when nearly all the rest are on the roosts in 
the house, gently scare these off the fence or 
tree for as sure as they become accustomed to 
roosting" out, it is almost impossible to break 
them of it. By setting" your coops near the 
hen house when you first put the old hen and 
chiCKens out, and by moving' your general 
feeding" pen, on the wind up, close to house, the 
most of them will naturally take to the house. 

We have often read, don't set your coops 
near hen house on account of lice. For a great 
many that may answer, but by this plan of 
management, cleansing" your house and oiling 
your roosts as per directions, you need have no 
fear on that score, and as stated above, you 
must put them near the house you wish them 
to occupy when they are grown. 

At the end of the first season, after practi- 
cing this plan up to the above time, just call 
the "old woman", put your arm around her 
waist, stand in the door of the hen house, see 
if everything is snug and neat, see if you have 
fifty coming" twq year old hens and fifty coming 



56 POULTRY PENSION. 

one year olds, pay close attention and see if 
they all have not plenty of room on the roost, 
notice what a mess you would make if you im- 
agine, next year we will set more hens and 
raise twice that many. Don't, not in the same 
house; hew to the line and you are in to stay. 
You and the "old woman" will be far better 
off. Of course in due time you may "expand", 
which is all right in some cases, but expand 
alongthe line; just multiply two, say two 
houses, twice the amount of feed, twenty set- 
ting- hens, ten hens and chickens, two hundred 
laying - hens, twice the amount of labor, twice 
the amount of dilig'ence, $16.00 per month pen- 
sions. The above reads fine, by experience 
you can accomplish it. Were we personally 
acquainted with you we might tell you by 
what figure to multiply the experience. We 
do not wish to frighten you for we are giving- 
you an exact plan by which it can be done; 
but will you do it? 

SETTING SIX HENS. 

In some cases, parties advocate that a three 
year old hen is in her prime as to laying*. 

By this plan we prefer the one and two year 
old hen, thoug-h there are good laying three 
year old hens, those especially thatmoult early 
in the fall. In many cases we have discarded 
an inferior pullet, keeping a coming three year 
old in her place. As you dispose of your stock 



POULTRY PENSION. 57 

in mid summer, or coming" fall, all are called 
coming- so and so, as they are not evened up 
until spring", the time when all are supposed 
to be hatched out. We give you the six hen 
plan, which is all rig-ht for those holding the 
above opinion, also not wishing too much set- 
ting hen business. 

In order to fully explain the plan, we will 
suppose you start in the spring* of 1901 with 
the following aged hens : 

50, 1 yr olds *} 

> Spring 1901 set 6 hens. 
50, 2 " " ) 

to replace one-half, or 25, of your two year 
olds which you dispose of during summer. 

In spring of 1902 you have : 
25, 1 vr olds ) 

50, 2 " " } 1902 set 6 hens. 
25, 3 « « ) 

Replace your 25 3-year olds. In spring of 
1903 you have : 
25. 1 vr olds ) 

25. 2" '1 > 1903. set 10 hens. 
50, 3 « » ) 

Replace your 50 3-year olds by setting 10 
hens. In spring of 1904 you have: 
50, 1 vr olds } 

25, 2 " " > 1904, set 6 hens. 
25, 3 " " ) 

You drop back to your six hens. By the 
above plan you will only set the ten hens every 
third year. The plan is feasible and will bear 



58 POULTRY PENSION. 

investigation; the only advantage of the plan 
is you have fewer setting hens to bother with. 
The same as with the ten hens, in comparison 
to the brush pile, fence corner plan, you get 
all your chicks at the proper season, raising a 
greater per cent, in fact nearly every one, 
with no trouble at all compared with the old 
plan. But to any whodesireto set more hens, 
there is no one to stop them even from one 
year's end to the other. Some believe they 
have to set hens the year through to get eggs 
the year through; that is a mistake. The early 
hatched pullet is the queen of layers the year 
through if fed for the purpose. 

INCUBATORS. 

Of all poultry fixings, the incubator is terri- 
bly abused by both the manufacturer and the 
unskilled user. We remember how th,ey used 
to say the chicken business was gone up the 
spout, the incubator was going to revolution- 
ize the whole thing; things were going to be 
done on a grand scale, by the wholesale; that 
did the business for the incubator, as it does 
for every branch of the business today, a sure 
thing to the amateur. Manufacturers said, 
raise chickens by the thousand, or rather 
hatch; a child can run it, etc., etc. 

The amateur jumped at it, loaded it with 
various brands of eggs collected from various 
sources, not even having enough hens to sup- 






POULTRY PENSION, 59 

ply egg's for breakfast, much less for an incu- 
bator. But they were too deeply interested to 
let the children try to run it, they were actual- 
ly out of joint until the time for results rolled 
around, and then — well, you know the rest. 
Of course the incubator was to blame. Some 
put in fair egg-s, had a fair hatch and raised 
only a few to maturity, after a short while 
they quit entirely. Others did better and are 
still using - them. 

We know of various makes of incubators that 
can be purchased for "name the price and take 
it". At the start some of them were as g-ood 
as any on the market, and in proper hands, 
are all right. Learn to raise chicks with the 
old hens before tackling - an incubator. The 
brooder is the thing- that has to be perfect. 

Most incubators do very well when started 
with good eggs, no better than you ought to 
put under the hen, and faithful care. Don't 
risk them with children. The raising" of the 
chicks is the rub with a new beginner, and we 
don't know as any one has it down to perfec- 
tion. 

When you are in the business up to the two 
hundred notch, an incubator mig-ht come in 
good play. Should you take a notion to try 
one, get one of some reliable manufacturer. 
With your two hundred hen plan it ought not 
to be a big job to keep up your flock, as you 



() Q POULTRY PENSION. 

will only want one hundred pullets each year. 
You could start your Incubator say the first of 
March, have everything- in good shape to care 
for the chicks. Don't feed too much soft feed; 
you can't beat the feed you used to feed in 
your one hundred hen business, before you ex- 
panded. Keep the chicks warm; they hatch in 
a pretty good month, April, you may be able 

to do well. 

Don't think because you have an incubator 
you will keep it fired up and going the year 
round. True, it is idle capital most of the 
time— in a great many cases had better be. 
Personally, we have used them, and do not 
blame the incubator as much as the man, not 
the child, who is trying to run it. Be your own 
judge; if you should fail with the incubator 
your old hen is still on deck ready for business 
at the old stand and you have a good plan, 
which, like the incubator, needs a certain 
amount of attention. Go slow, don't expand 
too much, there is a limit to everything— you 
may bust. 

FEED AND CARE OF LAYING HENS. 

We now come to a part of the plan on which 
a great deal depends, whether you get the full 
amount of vour pension, more according to 
your ability, less according to your disability. 

You cannot do any feeding in your house, 
only in your scratching pen; neither can you 



POULTRY PENSION. 61 

put your water in the house because of the 
dust which the hens raise in scratching - . Your 
bone meal boxes will also have to be outside on 
account of the dust. Your house being" twenty- 
four feet square g"ives you plenty of room on 
either side, according- to the wind or weather. 

We use two two-gallon crocks for water ves- 
sels; they are easy kept clean by scalding- them 
occasionally. A board fence running-out from 
the house, from either side you prefer, makes 
a g*ood shelter for your water crocks and bone 
meal boxes. 

We make the fence ten feet long- and two feet 
hig-h, haying- rafters across the top, extending 
two feet on each side of fence, with movable 
cover or roof, shifting from one side to the 
other, in case of wind, rain or sun. In freezing 
weather you, of course, will emptY the crocks 
at nig-ht, setting- them just inside of house 
with the bone meal boxes. 

The above is very handy; atter you get 
straightened out, doing- a "land office" busi- 
ness, you may see some way to improve on it, 
as you oug-ht all along - the line. It did not take 
the "man from the east" long- to catch on. 

In freezing- weather we keep the tea kettle 
hot all the time, pouring- water into the drink- 
ing- vessels, no telling" how often during- the 
day. Good, clean water (warm in winter) is 
as necessary as any other part of the feed. 



62 POULTRY PENSION. 

Some say water three times a day; that raav 
do, we know certain it is better than not at all, 
as we have heard people say sheep and poul 
try did not need water. Poultry may be taught 
to drink three times a day, we won't dispute 
that, but what would be trained bv it? The 
three times a day is advocated for a purpose, 
for what we can't say; if it is to save labor, by 
our plan it is no go. In winter when we see 
our hens pecking away at a frozen up vessel, 
we would sure thaw it out, or else put it out of 
sight, which you would have to do by the three 
times a day plan. We notice our hens on the 
coldest of days come from the scratching - pen 
at all hours of the day for water, and they al- 
ways look to us like they could hardly wait 
until the regular time, if it was far off. The 
same with the hen when she lays her egg. She 
comes from her nest cackling, goes straig'ht 
for the water. If it suited the hen, it would 
suit us. Ours don't like the plan, but it may 
be the way they are raised. I know the way 
thev are raised has a heap to do with their 
laying, it may be so with watering. So water 
for results. Let your hens be the judge. After 
you teach them the trick, you can load up your 
water tank, setting them to go off at the re- 
quiredtimes a day, and you are in it up to your 
neck and if your poultry are not there to drink 
the water at stated time, you may get 



1 



POULTRY PENSION. 63 

drowned. There are lots of yfood fountains 
now on the market where the hen herself 
touches the button, that's more like it. Look 
in your poultry paper or farm paper and see 
if you don't find lots of "food hints from corre- 
spondents, etc. In winter when a big - snow 
falls, we are up before daylight clearing- the 
snow away from the hen house, more particu- 
larly where the water crocks and bone meal 
boxes set. also paths around the hen house and 
to various other places. Make yourself a 
snow plow out of lumber, something - in the 
shape of a big - hoe with the handle on the bot- 
tom, well braced so it will push easy. 

Some say they never let their hens out in 
the snow at all. Like the watering - , they may 
be taug-ht that way; ours g-o to the barn, in fact, 
wherever we have our paths plowed out. As 
we don't like to wade around in the snow we 
soon have all around the place looking - like a 
switch yard of a railroad, someof the branches 
running - out to a grass patch. 

When it is extremely cold they don't go very 
far, some hardlv coming* out atall, not because 
they are shut up. The coldest days of last 
winter (1888 and 1889) they laid equally as 
well as before and kept at it, increasing - all 
along towards spring - . 

From the start we have faithfully tried t 
avoid almost anv figures at all, for the reason 



64 POULTRY PENSION. 

that we did not want to mislead any one. 
Should we have attempted it we could surely 
have given figures as straight as a string, of 
results from this plan of management, which 
are hard to beat. Not for one, but sever a- 
years" faithful practice, showing an increase, 
every year, of eggs to the individual hen, or in 
other words, the average to each hen, knowing 
that if you try the plan faithfully you will do 
the same and you are just as apt to try it with- 
out the figures as with them. 

We will say the increase in eggs, commence 
in the fall in November, increasing each month, 
more in December, January, February, March 
and April, with May a good second, gradually 
decreasing until September; September and 
October being the least months of the year, al- 
though with plenty of eggs in the above two 
months to more than pay running expenses . 
The above is just as good as figures and as 
true as steel. Brother, we have no desire 
whatever to deceive you and do not know of 
anything that would give us more pleasure 
than to see or hear of you doing equally as 
well, it is easy enough. 

The laying is done by the early hatched 

chickens we told you of and how to get them. 

We also told you it was of no use to keep up 

the whole year unless you had another object. 

The boxes for your bone meal are not partic 



POULTRY PENSION. 65 

ular as to shape. We g-et tobacco caddies, if 
toohig-h we cut them down to aboutfour inches, 
nail lath flat down on top, letting- project over 
on inside of box; that keeps the hens from flip- 
ping- the bone meal out with their bills; then 
nail lath across each way in center of the box, 
to keep the hens from scratching- with their 
feet. Should you prefer, you can make a 
troug-h, nailing- lath on the'edges and across 
the top. Whatever you use, scrape the meal 
from out of the corners occasionally, keep it 
supplied the year round with bone meal; it 
will take more in fall and winter, as that is 
the time they are g-etting- ready, also laying-. 
You will notice your laying- hens visit it pretty 
reg-ularly,|also hens when moulting- find use for 
it. When you quit putting- it in your chicks' feed 
coops, watch them hunt it up. 

We will tell you our way of obtaining- the 
bone meal. We buy the bone meal that is sold 
for fertilizer, as raw, pure bone meal, coarse 
ground. It is easy to g-et most everywhere, 
and we have yet found no fault with it. In an- 
other place we will tell you of other kinds and 
sources of obtaining- bone meal; having- never 
used them we cannot put them as belonging- to 
our plan, but you might find them to your idea. 
We have no doubt they are just as good, no 
better, nor as cheap. In buying the bone meal 
get the pure bone, not a mixture of bone and 



66 POULTRY PENSION. 

some other stuff for fertilizer. It is no trouble 
to get if you call for it. Buy it by the quan- 
tity, or at least by the one hundred pounds, if 
you have to have it shipped to you, as the rate 
is^the same on a less amount. You will need 
for each flock of one hundred hens, about four 
hundred and fifty pounds a year; make it say, 
five hundred. It may be you can get your 
neighbors interested in the business, go to- 
gether and buy it by the ton, delivered. Make 
no secret at all of the way you manage to get 
so many eggs, especially in winter, for when 
you try this plan according- to directions you 
are sure to get the eggs, and if your neighbors 
are like a great many neighbors they are sure 
to want to know, as they think you have a se- 
cret. It does seem it is a secret to some. It is 
nothing new at all, although vve have given it 
to you in a bunch and in a shape so it is easily 
understood or practiced. 

There is one more box to provide, or if you 
prefer, can make a trough, for winter use, es- 
pecially when the ground is covered with 
snow; it is for grit and charcoal, neither one 
being hard to furnish. If you have ever paid 
much attention to chickens, you have often no- 
ticed them hunting the ash pile for charcoal. 
They are very fond of it so we furnish it to 
them when they cannot get it themselves. It 
is very little trouble to lay up a quantity for 



POULTRY PENSION. 67 

them. You can easily make a sieve to sift the 
ashes in; say a box, with neither top nor bot- 
tom, with common wire screen tacked on one 
side. The ashes after sieving-, make good fer- 
tilizer for either putting- in the hill or broad- 
casting-. It won't take very long- to sieve 
enough charcoal to last a long- time. For grit 
you can save all the broken crockeryware, 
grinding- the same in a mill made for the pur- 
pose, answering- also to grind your charcoal; 
or in case of necessity you can pound it up, 
which is slow, for the old crockery, but if you 
are up to business it won't be long- before you 
can afford to buy a mill. There is grit al- 
ready prepared, on the market now for sale, 
but it looks like theaverag-e farmer or poultry- 
man could furnish plenty of grit for his poul- 
try, sharp gravel, etc., as it is only needed 
when there is snow on thegroundashort while 
at a time. They are both needed for your win- 
ter layers, otherwise we would not have said 
a word about them. You can have a partition 
in your box for both the charcoal and grit. 

These little tricks are of more consequence 
than a great many are aware of. Your poul- 
try pension, or the amount, is g-overned to a 
great extent by just such little things, that ijti 
reality cost comparatively nothing. 

In regard to the feeding of the flock, as 
stated before, we are up early, in fact a great 



(,g POULTRY PENSION. 

part of the time, in winter particularly, before 
the chickens are off the roosts, getting- their 
bone meal boxes, water crocks, etc., in shape. 
On most farms, the chickens, when fed at all, 
are the last thing- to be attended to. That is 
a losing- g-ame; just as soon they come from 
their roosts they should be fed, by this plan 
they come off pretty early, going directly into 
the scratching- pen. We have long 1 since come 
to the conclusion that one certain person should 
attend to the feeding", watering, etc., having a 
regular time and system. 

Have you not often heard some member of 
the family, way up in the clay, maybe near 
night, say. Has anybody fed the chickens? 
Do you call that business? When it is one 
person's duty it is more apt to be attended to, 
sure to if they are taking any interest. Chil- 
dren, when old enough, are all right, one at a 
time, attending to chickens; but don't drive 
them, give them an interest, it will stimulate 
them not only for the present, but will give 
them good ideas. 

You are aware hens generally commence 
laying in the spring, even the brush pile, 
fence corner stock, simply because nature pro- 
vides them with the certain foods necessary 
for the egg. one of which is bugs, worms, in- 
sects, etc. In order to obtain eggs in winter, 
you may provide similar food. The best sub- 



POULTRY PENSION. 69 

stitute for bujrs, insects, etc., is animal food of 
some description. We could give you page 
after page describing certain different things 
that an egg contains, what a certain grain 
contains toward making an egg and so on. 
We don't propose to take your time to read 
such, besides it does not interest very many. 
We plainly tell you that how to get the egg it- 
self, which we believe is of far more import- 
ance to an average farmer and poultryman. 

Animal foool being what you want to supply 
in the place of insects, we propose telling' you 
what we have used, we will also tell you other 
substances, all being easy to get. On most 
farms there is generally enough cracklins to 
supply a big portion of the animal food. In 
case you run short you may be able to g-et them 
at your nearest butcher shop. Should many 
in your neighborhood try this plan, cracklins 
at the butcher shops become scarce. In an- 
other place we tell you how to obtain some- 
thing else. The cracklins are cheap but they 
are sure hard to cut, as they must be cut pret- 
ty fine. The butcher shop cracklins are easier 
to cut on account of being pressed so much 
harder. It takes a heavy tool to cut them, we 
use an ax for the purpose. 

Some tear the cakes up and throw them out 
in that shape; no use going to the expense of 
buying cracklins to feed in that way, chips. 



70 POULTRY PENSION. 

old boots, or shoes are just as good, as the 

hens can come as near eating- one as the other. 

There are bone mills on the market that cut 

them, they have knives that shave them, so it 

said. We have never tried them, but may do 

so, as the ax cutting is a hard job. 

We commence feedingthecracklins, or what- 

ever food you use, in the early fall, when bug's, 
grasshoppers, etc., begin to g-et scarce; better 
a little too early than too late, as you want to 
start your hens into the winter laying-. To 
do this you must commence in time, time is 
money in this case. You need not expect full 
returns unless you do this. When you refer to 
the feed tables g-iven in the following - pag-es, 
do your own figuring - , you will find it a money 
making- investment. Some have come to us in 
dead of winter wanting- to know what we do to 
get so manv eg-gs, then when we tell them thev 
pull out for cracklins and bone meal, expect- 
ing* to g-et a full flow of eg-g-s. So bear in mind 
you must commence early, attend to the details 
in full, if you expect complete success; if you 

take the treatment, take a full dose. 

The first of August is earlv enoug-h to com- 

mence feeding- the animal food in small quan- 
tities (see table). When you commence feed- 
ing- the animal feed (Aug-. 1), mix it with your 
bone meal until the nights beg-in getting- cold, 
but continue the bone meal. 

For feeding the cracklins, in cold weather, 



POULTRY PENSION, 71 

we feed it in steamed grain. We put wheat, 
corn or oats in a pot, pour boiling- water over 
and let it steam on the stove; when ready to 
feed, pour it out in a large vessel, dish pan is 
good enough (this is expected to be only 
steamed grain, not a lot of water in it, if so 
drain it off), mix your cracklins and a little 
bran to take up the moisture. By letting- it 
set a while the cracklins become soft. This 
you feed every other morning- in cold weather. 
From the tables you will see the amounts to 
feed, we merely tell you how to feed at this 
time, the tables belong entirely to themselves. 
You must be your judge in a great many 
cases, say in regard to feeding- the steamed 
grain, which we feed whenever the weather is 
cool, that is in fall; if you become interested 
yotl will do the same, wh'le others may not 
take such interest and feed altogether by the 
tables, principally dry. The steamed grain 
is only for a change and you know that is a 
benefit, even of the same grain, although we 
change from one grain to another, but no mush 
anywhere in it. 

We have a reg-ular feeding- place all the 
time. We take the steamed grain, drop a 
handful in a pile briskly. Sbould the ground 
be wet and muddy, we omit the steamed grain, 
feeding- the animal food mixed with the bone 
meal, making- the grain lood dry, of whatever 



72 POULTRY PENSION. 

grain we take a notion to. According- to the 
table, most generally wheat, that is of a morn- 
ing', and in the scratching- pen, also on bad 
days when the hens cannot get out and rustle, 
we scatter small grain of almost anv kind, at 
noon in the scratching - pen, In the even- 
ing- just before going to roost, we feed them 
corn straig-ht from the hand on the ground. It 
is very seldom but what corn can be fed broad- 
cast, often all throug-h the year in muddy, 
rainy weather. We feed it in the place of 
wheat for the evening- feed, as spoken of in 
table for summer feeding- of wheat. Some 
farmers think wheat expensive feed for chick- 
ens, such is not the case. Wheat is an expen- 
sive crop. To feed it to chickens according- to 
this plan, you will realize more for your wheat 

than in any other way. The grain fed to your 
chickens is supposed to be good, sound wheat, 
not the rotten, mouldy refuse that anything- 
else won't eat. Feed according to tables and 
see that they get good weight of some good, 
sound grain. You need not weigh every feed, 
have a measure of some kind, box, bucket or 
such, after testing the grain, you can feed it 
by measure. Some grain will not weigh out. 
Whenever you change grain, change your 
quantity by measure to correspond with your 
weight per bushel. Take oats, for instance, 
some seasons a bushel will over run the 32 
pounds, more often they fall short. Some years 
oats are not fit to feed your poultry at all. In 
that case change to wheat. You can starve a 



POULTRY PENSION. 73 

hen awful easy on such kinds of grain. When 
your eggs begin falling off, slip out and weigh 
your grain, you will soon see where the trouble 
is. 

Often you. read in the papers, correspond- 
ence from the women how they are doing with 
poultry. Frequently they say, the old man 
don't believe in chickens, they eat too much, 
waste too much, etc. Such "old men" are a 
tough proposition. We have known such "old 
men ', one in particular; he raised a big rack- 
et in the family on account ol the chickens. It 
went so far the lady quit trying to raise any 
chickens, not even setting a hen. Pretty soon 
the "old man" began to notice the children 
were not shoed and clothed as before, the table 
lacked in several things. Don't you think 
they began raisingchickens again, what would 
you have done? Now honestly, don't you 
know several such old men, only they did not 
go far enough to choke off the supply of extras 
the chickens afforded without taking- money 
directly out of his pocket. 

Now in regard to the waste and destruction, 
it is the fault of the "old man", if he had his 
grain cribbed so the fowls could not get to it, 
they w r ould not soil it. If you will give them 
time they will eat it all and not waste a grain, 
but feed them as they should be, they are all 
right and more profitable. Some, of course, 



74 POULTRY PENSION. 

claim they g-et all they want at crib, pig- pen, 
etc. On very cold days, ground covered with 
snow, they sit on the roost and if by chance 
some one thinks of them they may throw them 
some corn in the snow; but w T hen spring - comes 
and nature provides for these poor, neglected 
fowls, all are ready and eag-er to get the eg-gs 
and market them, but no one hardlv thinks of 
them at other times. Not on all farms -is the 
above the case, but it is positively so on some. 

On one farm, we knew of two yOung- ladies 
who took week about — not feeding- the hens — 
g-athering- the egg-s to sell for their own es- 
pecial benefit, the hens took careof themselves. 
Either one of the above ladies could take a 
flock, manag-e them properly, pay the "old 
man" for his grain and make from $8.00 to 
$16.00 per month. More according to their 
ability, less according- to their disability. 
Have no fear of the hens, they will discount 
you. 

Let us talk to the "ofd man" a while. As 
we told you in the start, he is a hard proposi- 
tion. He says they don't pay for their feed. 
We want to tell him he has no other stock on 
his place that will come anywhere near pay- 
ing- like the hen. The trouble with such "old 
men" they expect one hen to equal one cow. 
Now, "old man", just try it and find out for 
yourself. Put the same amount of money into 



POULTRY PENSION. 75 

poultry that you have in one of your cows, 
counting - everything-; you will soon find out 
what a big- difference there is, and in favor of 
your poultry. The old man would rather sack 
up and haul thirty bushels of wheat to the 
mill or market at sixty cents per bushel, the 
miller making it into flour, when he could have 
let the hens grind it, and get adollar a bushel 
for it. taking the egg's, a finished product, to 
town with less trouble than he could the orig- 
inal thirty bushels. Say, old man, you are 
standing in vour own light. 

On a great many farms, not only the old 
man, but others think any kind of grain or 
waste is good enough for chickens. That is a 
big mistake. They also think they only need 
feeding during the winter and even then onlv 
in stormy, bad weather, another mistake. 
While it is true there is no other stock on the 
farm that will come as near taking- care of 
themselves and still give returns, we yet say 
she will give more clear profit, above feed and 
care, than any other stock kept by the average 
farmer. 

It is not profitable to feed and care for any 
stock unless you get full returns. The hen, 
without care will not lay near the amount of 
egg-s she would if proper attention was given, 
in which case you will make a good profit. 

In order to g-et full returns you should feed 



76 POULTRY PENSION. 

regularly the whole year through. Do you 
know that some of you really feed more than is 
really necessary ? That may sound strange 
to some, but it is so. We mean the storm v, 
cold day feeders. What can you expect of 
your hens when you do not try to get them 
ready to lay when eggs are high? Consequent- 
ly you must keep them in good shape all the 
time. 

The following" tables are given for hens who 
are supposed to have good shelter, a place to 
work in scratching pen. The tables were not 
intended for hens that have no house or any- 
thing else, although it is more feed than prob- 
ably most of them get, generally. 

Take the amount named in the tables and 
vou will find out it is not a large amount of 
grain, etc., for one hundred hens, but a little 
every dav in the year, with some idea of busi- 
ness. 

DECEMBER 1, TO APRIL 1. 

A. M., 6 pounds of wheat (or oats). 

P. M., 6 pounds corn. 

4 pounds cracklins (every other day). 

2 pounds bone meal (every day). 

With this four months feeding you can feed 
any apple, potatoes and other vegetable peel- 
ing's, etc., of a morning in your steamed grain, 
also with this four months, or any time during 
the year, give any surplus milk you may have. 
Feed the steamed grain whenever you can, that 



POULTRY PENSION. / / 

is, every other day. After a while you may 
be able to fix up like "the man from the east.' 
You can feed it under shelter whenever you 
wish. Nice days do not put too much feed in 
your scratching- pen at noon. On most farms 
there is generally plenty of grass range. We 
have found it of gTeat benefit to sow a piece of 
wheat, sown a little earlier than for the gen- 
eral crop, it makes fine picking to go with this 
four months of winter feeding. 

With this four months you will pay close at" 
tention to your charcoal, grit and bone meal 
boxes, particularly in bad weather. There is 
nothing very hard about this four months, al- 
though it requires a little closer attention, 
which will repay you well, as you should get 
lots of eggs, at a season when they are high, 
to pay you big" for your time and trouble. As 
for the time, it will take probably an hour all 
told. 

Keep a garden rake in your scratching pen 
to loosen up the straw, leaves or whatever you 
have in your scratching pen. After your flock 
has gone on the roost is a good time, it will 
then be readv for the morning- grain. Your 
hens generally come off the roosts pretty early, 
a great deal earlier than they would if they 
were roosting out of doors on fence or trees, as 
they will not have to fly down in the snow, and 
your glass or canvas makes it light and com- 



78 poultry pp:nsion. 

fortable. Say, brother, you have got a snug- 
little business "under your own vine and fig- 
tree. " 

Give plenty ol water and warm it whenever 
needed. 

Of all the seasons, this is the time to get 

there, the other seasons, or tables for feeding-. 

are all making ready for this one, getting- 

them in shape, ready for business w T hen your 

neighbor's hens are idle, provided they have 

not been attended to on the same plan or one 

similar. , Tell them the secret, it won't hurt 
your business one iota. 

The above feed is all you will need for the 
four months named, but we will state again, 
you will substitute oats for wheat occasionally 
in your steamed feed, which does not increase 
your feed bill. The oats aregood for a change, 
provided they are sound and of full weight. 
If not, don't fool with them, for we want 
to fully impress it on your mind, poor oats are 
next to nothing as food for poultry. 

Recollect, you ought to charge your poultry 
for everything you feed, market prices. ' It is 
no more than fair that you should deliver it, 
not by the w r agon load, but as they need it, the 
same as you would do for the merchant. Fill 
your little grainery with so much grain, of any 
kinds needed, keep account of number of bush- 
els put in; when fed out you know just what it 
takes. While you are doing all this charging, 



POULTRY PENSION. 7 l > 

don't forget to give your poultry proper credit 
for everything", then you will know what vou 
are doing. You may talk as you please, that 
is the only correct way of doing- it. 

APRIL 1, TO AUGUST 1. 

A. M., 3 pounds wheat. 

P. M., 4 pounds wheat (or corn). 

1 pound bone meal. 

In most of cases, those who feed the four 
months previous, during- cold spells, fail to feed 
any more until cold weather comes again. 
That won't near pay, that is if you are in the 
business for profit, nor do vve know of any 
other case where it is the rig-ht thinjr to do. 
This four months' feed is less expensive, but 
just as essential. It is about the only time 
during the year in which they can get animal 
food, bugs, etc., consequently, it is not neces- 
sary to feed your substitute, but put out the 
bone meal. There are times when you will 
feed corn in place of the wheat mentioned 
above, when the ground is muddy or sloppy, it 
is much handier for your fowls to pick up, you 
can feed it on the short grassaround your house 
for evening feed. The morning meal you can 
throw in your scratching pen, as your hens 
never give it up during the whole year, and 
will spend about as much time in there as any 
where else. Same with the hens with chickens. 
The chickens, when about full grown, run in 



80 POULTRY PENSION. 

there out of rain the same as the older ones. 
Pay attention to the little details, neglect in 
small matters sometimes makes great loss, a 
missing- link in any chain weakens the whole 
chain; so with this plan, one part depends on 
the other for success and the size of your 
monthly poultry pension. You will g-et plenty 
of eg-g-s the year round to more than pay your 
expenses, even if you had to buy your grain, 
etc., from day to day. 

Some few years ag-o there was a great cry 
about corn being- too fattening-; such is not the 
case, when fed properly. We often use it for 
evening- feed; if fed according- to the tables it 
is all rig-ht the year around, if short on wheat. 

AUGUST 1, TO DECEMBER 1, 

A. M., 4 pounds of wheat. 

P. M., 5 pounds corn (wheat occasionally.) 

1 pound bone meal (Nov. and Dec. \)A lbs.) 

2 pounds cracklins. 

This four months is sure a business period. 
You will have to keep the machines supplied 
with the rig-ht kind of fuelasevery pulley (pul- 
let) must be started at this time. 

This period's feeding- almost settles the 
question in reg*ard to the winter laying- of your 
stock. If attended to properly will greatly aid 
your hens when moulting- or shedding-, which 
is quite an item. Some people (town lot poul- 
trymen) say moulting- and laying- hens should 



POULTRY PENSION. 81 

be fed differently. Not by this plan, where 
they have plenty of range, for you know we 
are out in the open. 

The latter part of the summer, especially if 
dry and hot, does not furnish sufficient animal 
food, bug-s, etc.. so we commence on our crack- 
lins, or substitute. You must g-et your hens 
started to laying - , or under the spell, before 
winter sets in; if you do not, it is a hard matter 
to g-et them started in mid- winter, whatever 
the feed, they may lay a little earlier in the 
spring-. For that reason, we say commence 
in time. This four months' feed cuts quite a 
fig-tire and if you wish to keep a sure secret in 
regard to winter laving-, never mention how 
you feed this period; if you do you have let a 
bird go. Say, don't be foolish, you have noth- 
ing- to g-ain by such secrets. It is really true 
some try to keep such things a secret, when if 
they would stop and think they must know 
they are not a drop in the bucket when it comes 
to keeping- the markets supplied with eg-g-s. It 
is all rig-ht to know such so called secrets and 
practice them, that is the one who is at the 
top, but how many will do it if you tell every 
one yon see ? 

On most farms the above season is when 
most of grains are ripe and are being - , or are, 
harvested. When the grain is near the fowls 
they may help harvest some of the grain; don't 



82 - POULTRY PENSION. 

give up feeding-, call them up at night and give 
them some grain different from the grain they 
have been harvesting-. Here comes the same 
"old man" bellowing- and shooing- them oft his 
shocks of grain, but leaves them still stand in 
the field to tempt them, and it might be long- 
enoug-h for the wet weather to set in and spoil 
them. It is of no benefit to the chickens; under 
our plan it our purpose to give them all the 
grain they need, but should they have access 
to such grain, feed them only at nig-ht as long- 
as they g-etthe grain outside, but don't make 
a habit of it. 

In feeding- the crackling, or substitute, this 
four months it is not necessary to steam, al- 
though it will do no harm, and the steamed 
grain, in October and November especially is 
a good inducement to start them laying- and 
also a g-ood chang-e in the matter of feeding-; 
but if you wish to take the shortest route, 
take the sieve for sifting- ashes and sieve the 
cracklins, putting- the fine with the bone meal, 
saving- the coarsest to feed with the steamed 
grain. You can mix the cracklins and bone 
meal in the bulk, two pounds of cracklins to 
two pounds bone meal, putting- it out in the 
boxes used for bone meal. The above mixture 
is a g-ood eg-g- producing- mixture; if it were not 
for feeding- the steamed grain in late fall we 
would feed it as described. 



POULTRY PENSION. 83 

We have given the above tables for the aver- 
age farmer or poultry man, not for the one who 
has his poultry in little pens; but with the 
scratching- pen the big - range is not as essen- 
tial as it would be without it, but on an aver- 
age farm there is no lack of range. 

You should get — well, now, how many eg-g\s 
do you say you should get? Of course you 
have no idea. It all depends on the manage- 
ment, not alone in the feed and shelter, but in 
getting the early hatched pullet we told of at 
first. You may not have the flock 'to suit you, 
but come at it by degrees. When you get 
down to business, be sure and have the early 
hatched pullet. 

The way the average farmer, the majority, 
manage, they get from seven to nine dozen eggs 
from each hen in the course of a year, more 
often seven dozen. You have probably often 
heard of your neighbor having hens that lay 
every day. That might be so for a few days, 

but not long at a stretch. 

One man told us of a Hamburgh hen that 
layed every day for a year. The Hamburghs 
% are good layers and a good breed for this plan, 
but no Hamburgh, nor any other hen, ever was 
guilty of such a trick. Any of them that put 
in one half of the time in a year are good ones, 
and there are some that have beat it, but only 
under good conditions and where there were 



84 POULTRY PENSION. 

but a few hens in the bunch, not by the one 
hundred hen plan. But come to think of it, we 
read, not long - ago, of a poultry man who got an 
average of one hundred and ninety-six eggs 
from each hen in a flock of six hundred White 
Leghorns. Now that is very seldom heard of, 
much less accomplished. We have no reason 
for disputing it as the Leghorns are noted lay- 
ers and such is not improbable, which beats 
the half time we spoke of. Counting 365 days 
to the year, the whole six hundred went 14 
day soverthehalf time. Say. thatis business and 
if you ever reach that number you are a good 
one. Note difference between the seven dozen 
we generally get, us average farmers, and the 
sixteen and one-third dozen he gets from each 
of his six hundred hens, but don't let that 
worry you, you don't need that many to keep 
your pension up to $8.00 per month. But you 
ought to get eleven dozen from each of your 
100 hens; that will pay the pension and leave 
some, but should you keep along with the 
crowd, managing by the brush pile, fence cor- 
ner plan, you may get seven dozen, often not 
that. Do your own figuring and see if this * 
way of managing" won't pay. 

BREED OF FOWLS. 

As regards the different breeds, we would 
say, if you are just starting in the business, 
start with the best you can get. Of course for 



POULTRY PENSION. 85 

fresh ej»i>s for market, vou want to <ret egrsf 
producers, such as LegHofns, Hamburghs, 

Spanish, etc. If you already have chickens, 
build up and improve by introducing new blood. 

For our own use we prefer the Leghorns, 
but all are not alike as to choice of breeds. 
You may now have hens that you think are 
good layers, if so, stick to them, improve until 
you get the average laying- hen up to a good 
notch. Some may wish to breed for fancy 
stock. But with this plan it is for business, 
not much fancy work about it. 

We first imported the Leghorns, but they 
were not hardy, appeared tender, although our 
stock at present is nearly full blood Leghorn 
of "our own make," built from the ground up. 
from common stock, bv getting- a setting of 
eggs occasionally, or roosters if you prefer, 
you will soon have a flock to suit. 

Get roosters or eggs from some reliable 
breeder, picking the best eggs for setting, 
whenever you come across the hen that lays 
every day, set all her eggs you can get. If 
you wish, you can have asmall flock for breed- 
ing from, of course keeping them separate 
from the main flock. In that case you need no 
roosters w r ith the laying hens, they lay just as 
well, some say better. At present writing we 
have not got a rooster on the place and are get- 
ting lots of eggs. 



86 POULTRY PENSION. 

Should you keep a breeding- pen you will not 
have to keep them shut up long", as you are not 
long- in g-etting" what egg's you wish to set, as 
by this plan it don't take many. After ob- 
taining - the amount of eg"gs you wish, you can 
let the breeding- flock out with the main flock, 
or even when you are g'etting eg-gs to set, you 
can let the hens and rooster out late of an 
evening-, as they will all g*o back to their own 
house to roost. You can shut them up for the 
next day's laying-. This g-ives them exercise. 

The breeding - pen will appear expensive and 
useless to some of the brush pile, fence corner 
poultrymen. Keep the right kind of stock, 
bred to lay, and you sell enough settings of 
eggs to pay expense of same. 

We do not aim to sugg-est any particular 
chang-e in our present plan of manag-ement, 
but merely state, once in a while, another way 
of accomplishing the same thing, our plan in 
the main being correct. You are expected to 
make any change to suit your convenience* 
improving wherever the same may appear. 

As we have mentioned more than once, we 
have found, in our locality, no inducement to 
set any more hens than it takes to keep our 
laying stock up to the proper number, not find- 
ing it profitable to raise chickens especially 
for the market. You may think differently; 
your locality may offer better inducements to 



POULTRY PENSION. 87 

raise chickens tor the market. With the plan 
as given, you ought to have every year fifty 
hens to dispose of and say one-half of your 
early hatched chickens, which will be roosters, 
another fifty, making 100 head or 8 dozen. 
Do you sell that number by your present plan 
of managing"? 

The market, of course, is your dictator. It 
never fails to call for fresh eggs, if it calls for 
poultry. You must be your own judge whether 
you will supply your part or not. 

All along- w r e trv to tell vou how to g*et full 
returns; we will tell you of another source of 
income. 

A few years ago, the big packing' houses 
were throwing away a vast amount of refuse. 
What do they throw away now days? Well, 
just say nothing whatever and you have told 
it in full. With the average farmer it should 
be the same in every branch of his business 
With his poultry managed by this or some 
other good plan, he has a field for profit. 
Take the manure taken out of the hen house 
each week, and the refuse from the scratching 
pen occasionally, its value is far greater than 
many who have never tried it are aware of. 
There is still another source which makes a 
fertilizer equal to the best on the market. We 
often notice our hens are very destructive to 
young birds, toads, etc. Just let a youngbird 



88 POULTRY PENSION. 

get out of its nest, they willgo for it immediate- 
ly. We did not like that part of the game and 
could see no reason for their being* such canni- 
bals. We at last came to the conclusion thai 
it had been taught to them the same as some 
hens are taught to eat eggs bv throwing" the 
eg-g shells out to them; when cleaning chickens 
for our own use we threw the entrails to the 
other chickens. We have no doubt but right 
there we were teaching them the habit of eat- 
ing- birds, or anything that satisfied the appe- 
tite in that line. We thought at once of bury- 
ing- the entrails, feathers, feet and head. On 
second thought we recognized in the above a 
very valuable fertilizer, provided it was manu- 
factured so it could be properly handled. You 
know that is hard to beat, and on every farm 
there are the materials at hand for manufac- 
turing the same. Most all of vou know how to 
make the old time ash hopper. Well, make one, 
or get an old barrel, box or such, sieve your 
ashes to get the charcoal out to store away for 
the chickens in winter — say, they eat char- 
coal the year around — put a layer of ashes in, 
and when cleaning the chickens, or when 
through, pour the wholemixture, entrails, etc., 
and bloody water, onto the layer of ashes, 
scattering it, then cover with another layer of 
ashes, and you have your manufacturing plant 
going. There may be other refuse to put in, 



POULTRY PENSION. * 89 

the more the better. Keep it moist enough for 
the ashes to work, not too wet, as you do not 
aim to make a liquid fertilizer, but a compost. 
Should it run, put something- under it to catch 
the liquor, pouring- ii back on the mass. 
Should it become too dry, moisten it up; 
chamber lye is fine for the purpose. Work it 
over occasionally; after setting-, say a week, 
take a spade or shovel, mixing- it well, after 
while you have a sure enoug-h hig-h gTade fer- 
tilizer. You must use it with judg-ment, put it 
in the hill for corn, etc. Five acres fertilized 
will equal, or beat ten acres not fertilized, and 
you have it of your own make, as is the same 
with the other manure. Fort}' acres of land 
devoted to poultry, using- the manure as above 
described, for raising- their and your own food, 
will beat oceans of eigvhtv acre farms as now 
run. Some people think land not fit for any- 
thing- else is just the thing- for poultry. You 
averag-e farmers know better, but you can im- 
prove any of it with poultry, that is if you use 
all the manure they furnish. Every hen on 
on the place will produce enoug-h fertilizer, 
and of the best, every year, to more than raise 
what she eats. 

For curiosity, my brother, let us talk with 
you on that score a little. It has been counted 
for years that each hen will consume in one 
year, one bushel of corn, or its equivalent. 



90 , POULTRY PENSION. 

That may be all right for one hen, but suppose 
you had two one hundred hen flocks, or two 
hundred hens; it makes no particular differ- 
ence as to the price of corn, as to the quantity 
your hens eat, they should have the same 
amount at each feed, let it be high or low, let 
it be corn or wheat. 

When you want to lay in a supply of corn 
for your teams, not having- sufficient on hand, 
you try to purchase on the best terms you can, 
for that reason you most generally purchase 
in the fall at gathering time. When vou get 
for the chickens, do the same thing. 

Last fall all corn sold, at gathering time, at 
25 cents per bushel. Your hens, by this plan, 
always have a little money on hand. You take 
their own money and purchase their 200 bush- 
els of corn, giving for the same $50.00, or 25 
cents a bushel. By this plan of feeding, they 
won't eat a bushel of corn apiece, but they 
may consume the equivalent in something- else, 
say, wheat, oats, bone meal, animal food, etc. 
You are supposed to purchase the above in 
quantity and at the proper time whenthe mar- 
ket is right. Of course you are expected to 
raise all the grain, or most of it, but what we' 
want to tell you is this, corn is now selling 
from 40 to 45 cents per bushel; are you going 
to charge the hens 40 or 45 cents a bushel for 
it when she could have bought it with her own 



POULTRY PENSION. 91 

money at 25 cents, enough to do her a year ? 
These extra touches are for your own benefit. 
By taking- the tables you can fig-ure it all out, 
but the labor. On very few farms is the labor 
taken into account, but it should be. The 
poultry business is not as some would suppose, 
simply a sitting- down and folding- the hands- 
True, the labor is not killing- hard, but it is 
there al^the same. You can compare it with 
other labor done on the farm, a great deal 
with no profit at all attached to it. The "old 
man" spoken of will plainly tell you it don't 
pay to hire help on the farm. He thinks aheap 
of his old woman and girls, but from outside 
appearances, only for what work they can do, 
as he has them out in the fields working-. For 
a chang-e we give you a piece of poetry that ex- 
actly suits a big- majority of such old men. 

"ONE OF A THOUSAND." 

BY MRS. M. A. KIDDER. 



"She's one in a thousand," 

Said old farmer Grey, 
As he waded knee-deep 

In the sweet-scented hay. 
"You won't find her like, marm, 

From here to the town — 
That woman out there 

In the calico gown ! 



92 POULTRY PENSION. 

•'You thought 'twas a servant 

A yoking- the steers !" 
And the old farmer laug-hed 

Till he started the tears. 
"And you was half right, marm, 

For, 'twixt you and me, 
She has worked like a slave 

Since the year forty-three. 

"If you could have seen her 

That morning - in May, 
When I stopped at her father's 

And took her away — 
A likely young- bride, marm, 

So blooming- and fair, 
And chipper as that little lamb 

Frisking- there! 

"You wouldn't a thoug-ht it, 

Now would you, friend, say ? 
As you look at her wrinkled 

And brow r n face today? 
Her hard, bony hands, marm, 

Her back like a bow? 
Ah, she's one in a thousand 

To labor, tha't so ! 

"When first we were married, 
All, all for my sake;" 

And here the old farmer 
Leaned hard on his rake, 

"She g'ave up her music, 



POULTRY PENSION. 93 

And gave up her books — 
No nonsense about her, 
You'd know by her looks!"' 

*'And if you should lose her?" 

I ventured to sav ' 
The old farmer sighed 

And looked down at his hay ! 
"'Twould near break my heart," 

He replied with a tear, 
"And then help's uncommonly 

High about here!" 

— New York Ledger. 

Well, the girls, or mother, could take a flock 
of chickens, attending to them with half, yes, 
one-tenth of the labor, and do well, even 
though they mig-ht have to pay the "old man" 
for his grain to feed their poultry. He would 
probably want to borrow the balance to hire 
his help, and of course never pay it back, and 
yet growl that there was no money in chickens, 
but mother and daughters would have a far 
easier time. 

A great many girls are now working out for 
just such a purpose, to help keep up the farm. 
It is the same with girls as it is with boys, 
some don't care the snap of your finger for 
poultry: those who do should be encouraged. 
• In fact, in some families there is not a single 
one from the "old man" down, who pays much 
attention to poultry. No longer than yester- 



94 POULTRY PENSION, 

day we heard a lady say she was g"oing to 
raise 300 young* chickens this year, and as 
true as can be she did not have a hen house 
or chicken coop on the place. She raised Cain 
for a new smoke house and summer kitchen, 
got it, too, but does not need a hen house, or 
at least no complaint about it. But she is for- 
tunate in way of brush piles, big- barn, straw 
stacks, etc. 

MARKETING THE EGGS. 

The first consideration is the quality, many 
think it is the quantity; quality is more in 
demand in every line of produce today on the 
market than ever before; to the average farm- 
er an egg is an egg-. 

Do you know eg^s are spoken of as being- 
rich? While we are not surprised at any new 
thing thatmay happen in the poultry business, 
we always watch where it originated. Keep 
your eye skinned and see if there won't be 
some brand of food gotten up to produce rich 
eggs. 

There is a difference in the egg produced by 
the well fed hen and the one on half or no ra- 
tions at all. There is no disputing the fact, 
the beauty of the whole thing is, the average 
farmer is prepared to feed such food. The 
plan as given you is for producing eggs of as 
good quality as anybody's and especially in 
good quantities, also some markets or locali- 



POULTRY PENSION. 95 

ties want the shells a certain color. Now how 
about that? The average farmer will hardly 
be bothered in that respect, unless it be in a 
case where he has regular customers, serving 
them something on the plan that a milkman 
furnishes milk. Should they take a notion to 
different colored eggs the producer would have 
to furnish them or lose the trade, but for the 
average farmer in the main, the general mar- 
ket is his port of entry. In a few T cases, near 
mining or manufacturing centers, large cities. 
etc., there may be established, an egg route, 
having regular customers. You yourself, will 
have to be regular, also. At no time of the 
vear are vou to run short of eg^s; if vou do 
your regular customer business is gone up. 
You can not depend on outsiders for eggs, as 
you can in no wise guarantee anyone else's 
eggs and such a route has to be furnished 
with the freshest of eggs. In the spring you 
may have lots of eg«fs, but it takes good man- 
agement and good judgment to supply such a 
trade the whole year. In the most of cases, 
the average tarmer takes his eggs to the coun- 
try store, taking them up in trade, which is all 
right, so far, but w T hen you try this plan ac- 
cording to rule, you are going to get more eggs 
than you ever got before and may not be able 
to take them all up in trade. 

All over the country there are plenty of cash 



96 POULTRY PENSION, 

buyers, in the future there will be more of 
them, ready and eager for your egg's, and the 
farmer that is awake is the one to profit by it. 
But you are sure to have to quit the business 
unless you have fresh eggs. Before long no 
other egg goes. When coming across a nest 
of eggs laid out, never mix them with other 
eggs known to be fresh. Some times a neigh- 
bor may suggest going in together and ship- 
ping'. Never ship unless you can ship a guar- 
anteed case of fresh eggs; in that case you can 
not guarantee your neighbor's, egg's, nor can 
he yours. Feel your way before-commencing it. 

In the winter time an egg may be called 
fresh for a week from the day it is laved, in 
summer, 4 or 5 days, and then it beg'ins to be- 
come stale. 

Should you manage right, keep on and get 
up to the two hundred hen plan, you can easily 
get a case of thirty dozen eg'gs in, at the low- 
est calculation, four days. If near a shipping 
point, you might ship a case, guaranteed fresh, 
which you can easily do by this plan. Mark 
them as such and see what you can do. Un- 
der no circumstances put in a doubtful egg: 
the sooner you can see the advisability of 
handling only fresh eggs, the sooner you will 
command better prices. 

All produce, no difference what kind, is 
graded, so with eggs; there is not much mid- 



POULTRY PENSION. v )7 

die ground in the eg"g\ It is simply fresh or 
stale, good or bad. Notice in the market re- 
ports the following": 

''Quality so poor, dealers do not care to 
handle it." 

'•The best of near by points stock, higher." 
"The supply was light of fresh, salable, on 
basis loss off. " 

"Quality of stock poor, loss heavy." 
The above tells just what is on the market; 
who is to blame? First the producer, in not 
selling - his stock (eg-gs) when fresh. Next, 
the merchant for holding- them so long- before 
shipping-. What are you g"oing- to do about it; 
do you notice what was said above, '.'Quality 
so poor dealers don't care to handle?"- After 
while you will not hear, they don't care to 
handle it, when you take vour doubtful es^s 
in they will say, the dealers positively won't 
handle it. So g-et on board if you wish to be 
in front. The whole thing- is on the. move, just 
stick a pin right here. The above conditions 
are sure to exist. They don't like to handle 
them now, shortly they won't; and then where 
will the brush pile, fence corner poultryman 
be? 

As stated above, all over the country there 
are cash egg buyers. Tenor fifteen years ago 
did you ever hear of us poor averag-e farmers 
ever being offered cash for eggs ? What 



98 POULTRY PENSION. 

brought those cash buyers amongst us ? You 
may not think think of such things. You yet 
have time to take notice of the progress of the 
egg business with much less trouble than be- 
fore as there is but one direction to look in — 
the k 'Fresh Egg Route, " and to think some 
will say the poultry business is overdone. 

We have often heard some of the country 
merchants complain about this '-loss off" you 
notice and hear of, claiming the last shipment 
they made the loss was so heavy that they 
could not pay much for eggs this time. Right 
here there is a screw loose, the merchant can- 
dles your eggs (no, not candles, be safer all 
around if he would), but tests them with a 
tester, to our notion of not much consequence, 
only to tell a real bad eg~g from a tolerably 
fair one, not distinguishing the genuine fresh 
one at all. At any rate, if he ships them out 
pretty soon after receiving them, the loss ought 
not to be so much. We are an average farmer 
(hardlv that) ourself, but the eggs are very 
nearly lost, in a great many cases before the 
farmer ever starts to town with them. The 
commission merchant gets the blame, in most 
cases, for this last "loss off", some even claim- 
ing he keeps it as a part of his profit. Gener- 
ally speaking, they are a high class of men ) 
and they sure have a hard job handling just 
such eggs as are first taken to town by us 



POULTRY PENSION, 99 

average farmers to the average country mer- 
chant and tested by not an average tester. 
Most e<i"«'s taken bv the average farmer are 
gathered from all over the farm, may be have 
been held for higher prices, two weeks or more, 
part the time with a hen on. Eggs have been 
known to hatch on the way, or on the market, 
in the hands of these very commission men, 
and you know it takes three weeks at home for 
the purpose. The commission man is to blame, 
I suppose. When you come to keeping the eggs 
for higher prices it is generally a losing game, 
on most average farms. Shove them into mar- 
ket fresh. If you cannot get proper credit at 
home for guaranteed fresh eggs by the case, 
try shipping. Cold storage cuts a figure in 
holding egg's over, but when they get into mar- 
ket and run up against thefresh egg, you hear 
the following: "Choice, fresh eggs sold 25c, 
but cold storage held or doubtful stock would 
not bring anything like that figure. " In just- 
ice to the cold storage man, he doesn't try to 
compete with the fresh egg, he is only buying 
them up so when he catches the hens napping, 
in winter, he shoves in his stock. In some 
cases the market is glad to get them. That is 
a trick in the trade, not a very old one either. 
As we told you before, keep your eye skinned 
and stay with the procession; whenever they 
try to turn the trick on the old hen, they are 



POULTRY PENSION. 

no t ta it at aU. she hold^ the t— * «g 

tation. but the genu" , ou got to do 

where or what have jw » 

thing. V\here, o ? y ou are right 

with it, you ^erage farmer, • ^ no 

next to the old hen, for without y ^ 

egg market to talk about you ere mj 

but don't neglect your oppo ^ 

pile, fence corner P^» M 

r DISEASED- 

that the fowls kept uj 

have been healthy. a fead state 

Several years ago we wer our 

of affairs, some k,nd of a d-ease 

fowls and struck them ^^ ^ ^ w£ 
chicken cholera; it may th t cause d 

have always ^^m, £"-< nests and 
it , for they had lo s o^ ita , & grgat 

all, covered w.th them We 

chickens, but we got nd of ^ had a 

ki „ed some. ^"f^S days we did 
general cleaning ;up. ^ dean t 

not oil our roosts at all^n ^ ^ faith . 

the hen ^ej * had n0 troub i e . We 
fnlly done since and h ^ ^ ^ ^ 

never hand a case ui r 



POULTRY PENSION. 10) 

and from all accounts of the disease, I guess 
that we would have known it. We are very 
particular in regard to drafts in cold weather 
hi the roosting room. The roosting 1 room, if 
protected as we have described, has no imme- 
diate contact with the outside, except on one 
side and the roof, which can be protected if 
necessary. In a cold climate, double it, or 
cover with roofing felt. 

Our idea is that half the so called diseases 
are caused from filth and lice. We sometimes 
have noticed sulphur-colored droppings under 
the roosts; being afraid of cholera, we throw 
air slacked lime on it. more often take it out 
and throw it on the jjarden. 

An old lady told me that steamed oats would 
cure the cholera every time. We have had no 
cholera since to try it on. but if a hen ever 
looks bad, or wrong in any manner, she gets 
steamed oats. At any rate we have adopted 
it as a ration in our feed table, changing oc- 
casionally to wheat. 

We don't feed any preventatives at all, but 
we believe a <*"ood way of feeding is affoodway 
to prevent several things. We have noticed a 
lot of different things put in the water, at dif- 
ferent places, to keep off the cholera. Some- 
times very little water was in sight, but the 
other stuff was there, poke root, white oak- 
bark, blue stone, common, bottledblueing, etc.. 



102 POULTRY PENSION. 

etc. Whenever they thought of giving the hens 
water, it was poured in on that stuff and they 
call it a preventative for disease. Many are 
the farms where poultry seldom ever tret a 
drink of water only when it rains, and we have 
just finished telling- you that the market for 
fresh eggs depended on the average farmer, 
or do vve count them as not average? 

Don't fail to give plenty of pure, fresh water 
every day in the year, in clean vessels, leaving 
out the stuff named above, it is of no good on 
earth. If you manage by this plan, or some 
other g'ood plan— we don't pretend to sav this 
is the only way; we do say for one who does 
not know of any system at all, it is just the 
plan to jump at. 

There is a habit which some call, or rather 
class among - diseases; it is eg-g- eating-. In 
many cases it is taught to the hens by the 
throwing- out of eg-g- shells, especially just after 
breaking - the eg-ef for house use, and tossing 
the shells out of doors, which is very common. 
It looks like they would soon learn it is not a 
g'ood thing-. to do, but they do not, having prac- 
ticed it all their lives, are still at it. Lay the 
shells on the hearth of your stove, or in a pan 
in the oven, letting them heat, not burn, until 
they crumble easily; mash them up and scat- 
them on the ground or in the scratching pen 
for the chickens; don 't putthem in the bone meal 



POULTRY PENSION. 103 

boxes. Some hens seem to take to eatin<r eersrs 
and are hard to break. Whenever you catch 
one certain hen eati ng - eg"g"s very often, the best 
idea is to eat her, the sooner you g*et rid of her 
the better it is for the balance of the flock. 
By feeding- the rig-ht kind of feed there is not 
much trouble on the eg-g- eating- score. Half 
fed, or not fed at all, hens, are worse than anv 
other. By eating- one egg- they may be able to 
produce another, but it is not profitable as 
they will only come out even; so feed them e«-<r 
producing - food, according- to the tables, and 
you can g-et the finished product for your pav 
for your food and labor. 

(rive the poultry g-ood care and attention and 
there is no more dang-er of disease than with 
anv other stock. 

TWO HUNDRED HENS. 

We hardly know how to upproach the two 
hundred hen plan as we have been talking- to 
you altogether on the one hundred hen plan, 
You know as well as anybody there are manv 
who will not manage 100 hens and g-et full re- 
turns, but for your especial benefit we will 
tell you something- of the two hundred hen 
business, but don't g-et excited and go into it 
until you are perfectly satisfied you can mas- 
ter the business. It is not the number you 
keep at all; some may have the 200 hens now, 
while if they only had 50 they would g-et more 



104 POULTRY PENSION. 

clear profit. 

For the 200 hen plan, everything- is. of 
course, double. Twice the amount of house 
room, etc., but as we told you in the start you 
need not abandon what improvements you al- 
ready have, add a shed here, an addition 
somewhere else and so on. If you build a new 
house out and out you can't beat the plan as we 
have g-iven you, but don't attempt to run a 200 
hen business in a 100 hen house. Don't think 
because we tell vou of one thinir more than the 
one time that you are hard to make understand. 
Take the book all throug-h. makeanote of each 
point where we have cautioned you so often. 
It you don't succeed, or are not doing" as well 
as you wish, look up those oft repeated points 
and see if you are not hung - up on one of them. 
At one time we thought we would put up sigm 
boards all along- the route, but have just made 
them so plain that you can tell rig-ht where 
are to be put. Before proceeding - , let us tell 
you the 200 hen business is no hard proposi- 
tion at all, that is for you, but your neighbor 
might not do so well. You say you are not 
your neighbor's keeper. Help him along- if 
you possibly can, it will benefit you and the 
whole neighborhood. 

Notice in the poultry and farm and poultry 
papers and see what certain counties are 
doing- in the egg and poultry business. See if 



POULTRY PENSION. 105 

they don't get better prices than you do, in a 
neighborhood where but a few produce first 
class poultry and g-enuine fresh eg^s; egg and 
poultry buyers hunt such places. If we knew 
the exact location of your farm and iarin build- 
ings we could tell you more particularly about 
the location of your two houses, as it is we w r ill 
but make sug-g-estions; but will most emphat- 
ically say if you really mean business and aim 
to attend to the details, there is not much show 
for your losing - anything - by making" the 
houses substantial, neat, well painted, etc.; 
the hens will soon pay for it. You may not be 
able to do it all at once, but beg'in with the in- 
tention, it will add to the appearance of your 
farm, besides paying - more, counting - the capi- 
tal invested, than any other improvements on 
the farm. They are permanent improvements 
and if properly put up in the start, will not 
have to be replaced soon. 

It is not necessary for us to attempt to esti- 
mate the cost, as you are no£ compelled to use 
any particular plan or material. You may 
have some building - already on the place which 
can be worked over to suit the purpose, or 
some lumber at hand that woul d do, but be 
sure and have the ground room for scratching - 
pen at each 100 hen house. We contemplate 
building another house by the plan as stated, 
fixed up in fine shape, but w r e do not expect 



106 POULTRY PENSION. 

one more egg from the fine hou.se than in the 
first house, built of common barn siding - , roof 
of same, and painted with mineral paint. The 
hens don't care a copper so they are comfort- 
able; but before we forg-et it vve wish to tell 
you the hen is a sure queer bird. Paint the 
houses at each station a different color and 
see how soon they notice it, each one going to 
her proper house. 

The location of the two houses has some- 
thing to do with the management. At first 
thought you migmt think to have them as far 
apart as possible; that might do provided they 
were out of sig-ht of each other, out of hearing- 
distance or fenced apart, which would be necs- 
sary in case you had another two flock of 100 
each, but we will only talk of the two 100 hen 
flock. If you gx> any deeper it's your look out; 
be careful when you go to expanding", it is 
risky in almost every case, let alone poultry, 
but it is sometimes advisable. If you run your 
200 hens up to the notch, and still improving-, 
you are almost sure to expand, and then what! 

We prefer the houses close together, not jam 
up: "the man from the east" is working- them 
on a g-ood plan. You have to feed them alto- 
gether so you had just as well have the houses 
close together, for they will all come if they 
see or hear you. Some arg-ue that 200 hens 
are too many for one flock, so say we, in one 



POULTRY PENSION. 107 

house, especially a 100 hen house, but it is no 
trick at all too feed 200 hens out of their 
houses, on the ground. Just stand in one 
place and throw the grain broadcast over a 
small space; don't throw one handful and 
watch the hens pick that up. keep it going-, 
watch where they are cleaning- up the fastest. 
The above is for corn. Should you take a no- 
tion to feed wheat outside of house, in summer, 
iust trail it along- in a circle big" enough for 
them to g*et around it. In winter you will 
have to do most of your feeding - in the scratching* 
pen unless you g-et a move on yourself and clean 
the snow away from the house. Manag-e just 
as you did your 100 hen flock when ..you first 
went into the business for profit, only a little 
more so. When running a 200 hen flock, if you 
expect to use the eggs for setting, it will take 
several roosters and they cause a heap of 
bother, more particularly in winter, when the 
flock uses the houses during- the day. When 
you g-et up the 200 hen flock you can surely af- 
ford a breeding- pen, you know it don't take so 
very many eg-g-s to set, considering- the size of 
your business. You only want 100 pullets 
each fall and you oug-ht to g-et them easy out 
of 300 eg-g-s set. With a g-ood breeding- pen 
you can build up some trade in your neigh- 
borhood selling eggs for setting. When you 
also reach perfection with your 200 hen flock 



108 POULTRY PENSION. 

vou will commence thinking of an incubator. 
Well, a good 200 egg - incubator run and man- 
aged with the same energy, should enable you to 
tackle the 200 hen plan, it being - sufficient to 
set it Only twice to keep your layers fresh. 
Should you undertake it, the first thing- is a 
reliable machine, and vou can onlv jret one of 
a reliable firm. Don't go for one because it is 
cheap, but of course get it as reasonable as 
possible. Get a good brooder also, that is of 
more consequence, to very many, than the in- 
cubator. By this plam the Chicks ought all 
come off in April and May, two good months 
for raising" chickens, Read your poultry and 
ag-ncultural books and you will find lots of 
good suggestions on raising" them; that is for 
warmth, etc., you can't beat the plan already 
given for feeding - them. 

Only when raising - them in a brooder, you 
are to supply them animal food and grit. You 
will find from time to time various suggestions 
in your papers that will equal, and you may 
think beat ours; go for it, that is what makes 
the thing - g-o. We don't care how near the 
head of the procession you get. We simply 
want to g-et you started in on the tail end be- 
fore the whole thing moves off and leaves you. 
The average farmer and poultryman belong in 
the front. Some are away up now, but for the 
lands sake, look around and see how many 



POULTRY PENSION. !()'> 

you know who are being* left fast. When you 
yet to talking- to them, tell them if they can't 
do any better, build a straw shed for their 
hens to scratch in, even if they have to roost 
out of doors. We don't like to mention it to 
them, they might g"et offended. Let them have 
your book to read if they can't afford one, any- 
thing to start them, it's for their own g-ood. 

SUBSTITUTES. 

There are various substitutes for furnishing- 
the animal food, bone meal, etc. We don't 
know much about them from actual use. We 
used beef meal a short time on account of the 
cracklins becoming scarce. You can g*et it 
from same parties you g-et the bone meal from, 
but you cannot mix it with the steamed feed: 
of course von can but we believe it is better 
mixed with the bone meal as described in the 
table. 

There are bone mills on the market for cut- 
ting- or shaving- green bone as it comes from 
the butcher shop, but like the cracklins, will 
be hard to get when manv are wanting- it, un- 
less in larg-e towns and cities. 

In some sections, rabbits are plentiful 
enough to supply meat in winter. Boil them, 
season as you would were you g-oing- to eat 
them yourself, chopping-them up fine, bone and 
all. steaming- the grain in the water they were 
cooked in. To some, the rabbit may not seem 
like the proper thing - ; to others, it is just the 



110 POULTRY PENSION. 

the thin«-, as there are localities where it is no 
trouble to get them, sometimes catching" 
enough to last a long time, during- a big 
snow. The beef meal, in the long" run is the 
most reliable, as it is no trouble to get. Now 
it may seem extravagant to furnish animal 
food for your hens; we will just say it is far 
more extravag-ant not to furnish it, as it is a 
dead loss, for you cannot get full returns with- 
out it, not only once in a while, but regularly- 
Some have tried it occasionally, once or twice 
during the winter. Regular or not at all, that 
is the plan all through; the investment is some- 
thing- like laying down a dollar and taking up 
two. 

There is also, on the market, granulated 
bone, about the size of wheat grains or larger, 
which is fine, but for the average farmer the 
bone meal is cheapest and, from our experi- 
ence, answers the purpose. The granulated 
is claimed to be green bone; we hardly think 
it is. in every case, but believe it is all bone, 
that is all we have handled, but what it may 
be after while is another thing. The bone 
meal we speak of is sold as pure, fresh ground; 
it may have been when ground. In buying any 
of it you want to buy irom some reliable firm. 

There is a brand we intend trying, it is sold 
as pure flesh, blood and bones, if so it seems 
like it ought to be very near what we want. 



POULTRY PENSION. Ill 

At the present you will be all rig-ht with 
such as we first mentioned, and when vou be- 
g-in expanding-, just keep posted with papers, 
and if you don't find enoug-h to satisfy, you are 
among-st the first. Be economical in buying- 
but don't try to be economical by not buying 1 
at all. 

THE MAN FROM THE EAST. 

For an example, we g*ive you a partial ac- 
count of the operations of "the man from the 
east." He formerly worked in a manufactur- 
ing- establishment in a northeastern state, 
running or tending- a certain class of machin- 
ery. The proprietors, from time to time, have 
been adding- other machinery, making- it so the 
one man who formerly tended one machine 
now tends to three. His health besran to fail: 
was in one strike; he beg-an thinking- of other 
machines being- put on to replace more men: 
his health also beg-inning- to fail, he thoug-ht 
he had better begin making- other arrange- 
ments while he had a little money saved up, 
knowing- if he lost his job his money would not 
last long-. 

He corresponded with the land ag-ent of the 
Frisco R. R. in reg-ard to land in Southwest 
Missouri and Arkansas. During- a shut down 
of the mills, he pulled out for Arkansas. He 
says it was a hard pull, as he hardly knew 
what was o-oin<r to become of him. He was 



112 POULTRY PENSION. 

convinced be could not lon<r remain where he 
was. 

He landed in Southwest Missouri, just over 
the state line from Arkansas. He bought 
forty acres of land near a railroad station. 
paying- $320.00 for the same. It had a pretty 
fair box house on it, a log- stable, 22 acres 
fenced and broke out, the balance being cov- 
ered with trood timber. He built a log- hen 
house 20x30 feet, with the help of his g-ood 
neighbors, it cost him very little cash. He 
bought fifty hens, as gx>od as the country af- 
forded, which was far above what he had ex- 
pected, set out three acres of strawberries, 
twenty-five apple trees, with various other 
small fruit. The first year came very near 
doing" him up. His wife could hardly stand it, 
being- raised in the east and eominif to that 
••wooded country" it was sure hard to stand. 
Now it is all chang-ed, neither himself nor wife 
cares to g"o back. 

His stock now consists of 196 laying- hens, 
his first poultry house; another built of pine 
lumber, 20x30, sawed right there in the neigh- 
borhood. There is a stone foundation under 
his new hen house, the stone also g"otten close 
at hand. 

His two houses are 30 feet apart, with a 
covered run between the two, 12 loot wide, 
with door connecting" each house to this run. 



POULTRY PENSION. 113 

It is used for feeding- purposes in bad weather, 
mostly in winter. There are hinjred troughs 
all around this feeding- room, the sides of 
house making- one side of trougfh. Bv unhook- 
ing- at each end and' center they are easily let 
down for cleaning-. On south side of this run 
there is plenty of lig-ht and sun, having* lig-ht 
glass and oiled muslin in plenty. The above 
run makes a fine place for feeding- the steamed 
grain, in the troug-hs around the sides. All 
the above building-s have eave troughs for run- 
ning the water away from the houses. To 
come right down to the point, everything is in 
good shape. 

Now we come to a new idea of his own «et 
up. When he first undertook the business, he 
knew very little about chickens. As he has to 
have 100 pullets every fall, it is a hard matter 
to pick out what he wishes to discard every 
fall, as they are now all full blood Brown 
Leghorns and look almost exactly alike. He 
is starting two breeding pens, one of Brown 
and the other of White Leghorns, one house 
to be whites and the other browns. One year 
set all browns and the next year all whites. 
By that means he says he will have no trouble 
in picking out what he wants to dispose of. If 
there is no sale for the eggs for setting pur- 
poses, he lets which ever pen he is not using 
run with the main flock. 



114 POULTRY PENSION. 

He prepares his oiled muslin in the following" 
manner : 

Stretch the muslin tightly on a frame the 
size you want, get one quart of linseed oil, one 
ounce of sugar of lead and three ounces of 
rosin. Pulverize the sugar of lead in a little 
oil and add it to the other materials. Put all 
into an iron kettle and, heat it until the resin 
is dissolved and all is thoroughly mixed; ap- 
ply while hot. At the end of five years, he says 
he is all O. K. He is head boss, runs his own 
machine, has his own living, butter, milk, veg- 
etables, fruit and honey, as he now has fine 
bees. 

He thinks his section of country will soon be 
noted for the poultry business, the climate 
alone being- a great inducement, to say noth- 
ing of cheap land, building material, etc. 
Transportation to market is ample, with talk 
of more routes being laid out. At present, 
there is a pretty good market, winter resorts 
using a good supply of both poultry and eggs, 
with egg buyers by the wholesale. At any 
rate he thinks he made a safe venture, having 
plenty of everything, good health, with two 
fine baby boys. 

My reader, don't you think a man of the 
above type i« a "winner" most anywhere? 

He is talking of expanding, purchasing a 
200 egg incubator, enlarging his flock, etc. It 



POULTRY PENSION. 115 

is almost certain he will succeed, the firm that 
sells him an incubator and brooder can rest 
assured that the children won't run it; all the 
better for them, as a machine in such hands 
is a trood advertisement. 

THE MAN FROM THE WEST. 

This man was born and raised in the west, 
or rather Southwest. His parents were 
wealth}'. The boy was not a complete success 
(according - to our plan) in the city in which 
his parents lived. They moved to the city 
from a fine farm to "educate their children." 
They, him. or some one, concluded he was only 
fit to make a No. 1 poultry man. We have often 
thought it was against his own will. 

They purchased land in a near by county 
and set him up in the business. Let me tell 
you there was no discount in the "set up". He 
had everything- you ever heard of in the busi- 
ness, as far as fixtures are concerned, incu- 
bators, brooders, houses, glass and wooden, 
heaters, etc., he and his business were the 
talk of the whole section, and are yet. There 
was one grand mistake in the start, there 
were no children. to run those incubators and 
they would not, or did not, run themselves, and 

they had a fair and impartial trial, as he left 
them entirely alone, while he spent the great- 
er part of his time in a near by town, telling - 
the bpvs just how he was going" to stampede 



116 POULTRY PENSION. 

the broiler market, and the boys all thought a 
great deal of him and always will, as long - as 
the old folks at home foot the bills. 

After cooking- a batch or soof eg-g-s, smother- 
ing- or starving- any chickens he may have 
hatched, he concluded the incubator was not 
reliable and g-ave them up. He then went 
after the fresh eg-g- market; he served it just as 
he did the broiler market. 

At last accounts he was still in the chicken 
business, drawing- regularly on the old folks 
for funds to keep him (and the boys) g-oing-. 
The markets that he was g'oing- to glut remain 
the same as before. Take vour choice. 



THE END. 



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